Espada Adventure at Hogwarts
by HunterTala13
Summary: The Winter War has been over for hundreds of years and some of the arrancar survived. There is peace in the Bleach world. Five of the Espada are sucked into the wizarding world via Voldemort's dark rituals. With no way of getting home, they must live with wizards for a year and wait for help. Bad-assery in the final battle. Grimmulqui. Side SzayelxNnoitra


LP

**Author's note: Okay! So this is my first crossover. This fanfic will not be as dark as my other one. It will probably be a oneshot. I was really shocked when I couldn't find more non-dark stories of this pairing on this site, especially in** **this**** kind of setting. So, being the scatterbrained individual that I am, l decided that I would write one to contribute to the variety. I saw that my first fanfiction was doing better than I expected and wanted to write something less depressing. This fanfiction is not focused on keeping the people in character, more on highlighting the fluffy side of their relationship and how they compliment each other, yeah? This is a Grimmulqui story. It also means that this fanfiction is slash! Don't Like, Don't Read. **

**Warning: AU. _This is a slash fic. Get it? YAOI, BOYS LOVE. If that is not your thing, click that little arrow in the corner of your screen and spare yourself. OOC galore. Ulquiorra's skin is not grey. _Weasley bashing, Manipulative!Dumbledore, Scumbag!Order, Somewhat-useless!Harry. Good!Espada. Rated for Grimmjow and Nnoitra's potty mouths.**

**BLAME THE PLOT BUNNIES. IT WAS THEIR FAULT.**

**I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING BUT MY PLOT-ISH. ALL THE CHARACTERS BELONG TO TITE KUBO AND J.K ROWLING.**

**READ AND REVIEW. FLAMES WILL BE USED TO HEAT MY HOME AND ROAST MY VEGETABLES.**

**LET'S GET ON WITH IT**

**Introduction**

In the branches of a tree in the Forbidden forest, two figures sat too close to be anything other than a couple. The smaller one was pressed against the taller one's chest, both watching the school day go by. Grimmjow looked down at his mate. Ulquiorra was watching the quidditch game go by. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, the biggest rivalry at Hogwarts. Since the Espada were summoned to the magical world by one Dark Lord, the Fourth had become more open and less like a living rock. Grimmjow was grateful for the change as it allowed the youngest Espada to be more open to their relationship. The two had been mated for a long time, hiding it from the Shinigami. Aizen was abhorred by his warriors and they longed for the day he died. Thus, they all celebrated when the substitute shinigami killed him. Voldemort had summoned the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Espada in a Dark ritual during the final summer of the war. He had read in an ancient tome of creatures capable of destroying entire armies with a single swing of a blade and wanted that power for his own. Voldemort summoned the Espada with the intention of enslaving them and using their power to conquer all of wizarding England. As they stood in the center of the circle drawn in blood on the floor, he offered them anything they wished for. He promised them money, glory, power and all the souls they could ever want in exchange for their servitude. Grimmjow had only sneered at him in disgust. Nnoitra leered in that oh so creepy way of his and Szayel remained silent. Harribel gave all the Death Eaters that were ogling her chest a frosty glare and shook her head. And Voldemort reminded Ulquiorra too much of Aizen for him to say anything. All five Vasto Lorde refused the Dark Lord's offer and left. It was only later that they realized they had no way to get back home, making it so they were stuck in the wizarding world until someone back home realized they were missing and figured out a way to get them back. So, their adventure in the wizarding world began.

**_Let the story begin..._**

It took a while to locate the elderly wizard, but once the did, Dumbledore was all too happy to let them come to Hogwarts. It was a simple matter for Ulquiorra to convince the aging wizard that the five were delegates from the elusive Japanese magical community. Dumbledore was always looking to improve his public image and was more than happy to let the Espada live at Hogwarts. He offered to enroll them as students in order to help them "get a better understanding of British magic" but was immediately rejected. Undeterred, the Headmaster told the Espada they were allowed to sit in on classes to observe. He "accidentally" leaked their conversation to the Daily Prophet and soon, every newspaper was printing stories of how the Headmaster of Hogwarts convinced the Japanese magical community to open up and share the secret to their immense power with the English wizards. Upon reading the lies printed on paper, the Espada vowed never to trust the old man and burned their copy.

In the Alley, the five newcomers were not doing a very good job of "blending in". Their odd genetic makeup and strange clothing made them stand out too much. Their terrifying swords and mask fragments further alienated them from the crowd of witches and wizards. Many were suspicious of the strangers, deeming them untrustworthy. Others condemned the Espada as being Death Eaters upon seeing the masks and swords. It did not help their case that all of them had some strange biological feature or another. Grimmjow had electric blue hair and an air of cockiness. Nnoitra was seven feet tall and had a spoon shaped hood. Szayel had bright pink hair and a creepy leer. Ulquiorra had his green tear marks and deathly pale skin. Harribel had enormous assets in a certain area and dark skin with blond hair, garnering her a lot of attention with the wizards. They had sat in a cafe in the Alley for most of the day, observing the wizards and, in Szayel's case, taking notes on their magic for further study. He sat on Nnoitra's lap with a glass of ice water on the table next to him with a notepad and pen in his hand. Nnoitra was basking in the scent of his mate and scaring the young students as they walked by. Harribel was sitting at her own table, preferring to be alone as she read a book about the wizarding customs. As for our main couple, they were enjoying the shade of the overhang in the outside portion of the cafe. Ulquiorra was watching the wizards with avid interest, his large emerald eyes practically glowing with the hunger for more knowledge. Grimmjow was too busy glaring at all the magical folk who ogled his mate to observe anything. Ulquiorra had gotten even more ethereally beautiful over the past years and his mate was now having to fight off perverts on a daily basis for the right to keep the green eyed beauty. Many witches were staring at the Sexta Espada's toned chest as well, but he ignored them through years of practice.

The day dragged on rather slowly for the outer worldly visitors, the magical society dull compared to the constant fighting and chaos of Hueco Mundo. It was only during the afternoon that the five saw something interesting. A trio of older students appeared through the brick wall into Diagon Alley, engrossed in their own conversation. One was a girl with curly brown hair and intelligent eyes. The second was a boy of average height who greatly resembled the Cuarta Espada. The last was a plain redhead who seemed to attach himself to the second teen with the zealousness of a leech. He was constantly hanging over the other boy's shoulder, criticizing his every move with a distinct maliciousness. Grimmjow heard the redhead belittling his black haired friend for being too stuck up to marry his sister. He said the shorter boy was too selfish and should share his wealth with his friends. Beside him, the pretty brown haired girl frowned and began to lead her other friend away, taking on the protective sister role. Grimmjow heard a low growling sound coming from behind him and turned to see the three others had come outside. Szayel was glaring at the redhead, a rumbling sound escaping his throat, but the teen was too ignorant to feel the amount of killing intent directed his way. The Eight was always sensitive to verbal abuse, it having been the cause of his human death. The rest of the Arrancar five were wearing looks of either disdain or emptiness. Returning his gaze to the Golden trio, Grimmjow saw the girl had managed to get her black haired friend away from the now classified bastard redhead and was leading him toward the cafe. She had a look of great anger on her face and marched her friend right up to the Espada's table. The boy was looking quite sad and lost.

"What do you want? Why were you guys staring at us over there? If you are going to insult Harry more, let me tell you. He has worked so hard in this war to kill Voldemort and the moment he does something wrong everyone calls him a traitor! Do you know what he has been through? I thought Ron was bad enough but now everyone in the wizarding world thinks Harry has gone dark," Hermoine said. She then turned to Ulquiorra.

"You! You are probably doing all these horrible things and framing Harry for them. You are all Death Eaters aren't you? You all have masks and swords after all. Voldemort probably got one of his little Death Eater slaves to polyjuice himself into Harry and go around killing all those muggles. You guys have some nerve showing your face in plain sight here. Especially with this impostor here. Did you think you would really get away with it? Dumbledore will stop you. Why are you all staring at me like that? Do you think I'm crazy? You Death Eater scum will never win, so you can go back to you master and tell him that his plan was foiled."

Her loud and enthusiastic ranting had drawn the attention of the entire shopping alley and a large crowd had begun to form, with people muttering among themselves. Ulquiorra sighed. If he had know his appearance would draw so much attention and assumption he would have worn a hooded cloak. There was no need to be noticed by the trash even more than they already were.

Hermoine Granger found herself on the receiving end of what was possibly the coldest stare in existence. It was even more soul piercing than Snape's on a good day. The owner of said terrifying, empty stare was none other than the man she thought to be the Harry Potter impersonator. He was looking at her with absolutely no expression, his twin emeralds seemingly gazing into her very core. Hermoine mustered up all Her Gryffindor courage and drew her wand, determined to reveal the impostor and restore Harry's good name. She cast a stunning spell followed by _Finite Incantatum _in order to remove all glamours and appearance altering spells, thinking it would reveal the young man to be a slimy Death Eater. She was stunned herself when the suspicious stranger merely moved his head to the side and avoided the stunner, while the second spell hit him without revealing anything.

"As you can see, trash, I am not wearing any type of concealing enchantment, nor am I under the influence of this polyjuice you accuse me of using. We are delegates from the Japanese magical Society sent to determine if the British wizarding world is deserving of our help. From all the bigotry and lack of common sense we had observed, your chances of receiving outside help have narrowed greatly," Ulquiorra's voice was monotone and clear. "Along with having no tact or guile whatsoever, English wizards seem to have no sense of friendship, turning on their friends the moment a satire article or lampoon is published in an already unreliable newspaper. From what I have seen of that redhead, many wizards are sidling up to Mr. Potter for the fame and recognition that rolls off him in waves. It is a true testimony to the shallow and arrogant nature of European magical folk. This type of behavior is not accepted in any other part of the world. It is a shame to know that we will waste a year here observing those who do not in any way deserve our help"

The redheaded one, Ron Weasley, had come up behind his two other "friends" in the middle of Ulquiorra's review and was turning an ugly shade of purple. He heard all of the Fourth Espada's speech and seemed to think it was all a lie.

"What makes you think that you guys are so much better than the rest of us? We are in a war with the strongest Dark Lord the world has ever seen and you guys are all sitting pretty in your little Eastern hovels. The Japanese magical society should be offering us all the help we need! You guys say you are delegates, but you look pretty weak to me. I could probably kill you all right now. I mean, all you have is a blue-haired exhibitionist, a pink-haired faggot, an anorexic creeper, a big breasted whore, and a short emo freak. How are you guys strong enough to be sent as ambassadors?" Ron ranted.

Ulquiorra flinched at being called emo and Szayel looked like he was about to cry. Grimmjow just grunted, but Tier and Nnoitra were mad. Harribel's glare could have cut diamond and Nnoitra's hand was already on Santa Teresa's hilt.

"What did you say about Szayel, you fucker? His hair color is natural and there is nothing wrong with being gay. It's even encouraged where we come from. You sons of bitches need to get your shit together and watch what you say before someone with less patience than me removes your heads from your damn shoulders." Nnoitra was pissed.

"I did not ask to be born this way and am not a whore. I am asexual and will stay that way. You must watch what comes out of your mouth before I cut in off and shove it into your rectum where it belongs," Harribel's threat was less obvious, but just as clear. After all, she was not one to lose her temper.

Ron did not seem phased. Since he couldn't get enough of a rise out of the girl and the blue headed one, and the pink faggot had the creeper protecting him, he decided to target the weak looking Harry lookalike.

"What about this emo one right here. He looks even more like a girl than my sister. What's with the makeup buddy? He can't be anything but someone's bitch. That's probably what he is here for, just in case someone needs a quick fuck. I bet he cuts and cries himself to sleep because his pimp beats him. He's probably a mudblood too."

Grimmjow was not worried. He knew his bat could take care of himself. He chuckled and sat back to watch. Ulquiorra stood up from his seat and looked Ron straight in the face, his green eyes chips of ice. Ron, being the idiot he is, did not sense the amount of killing intent that saturated the air, making the crowd shuffle warily. He continued to belittle the Espada and even went so far as to call their Zanpakuto fake. That was the last straw for the Fourth Espada and Ron found himself slammed into the cobbled street with blood running from his nose. Ulquiorra stood over him with a look of doom upon his face. The quiet vasto lorde did not get angry often, but when he did, it was a terrifying sight to behold. Murcielago was halfway out of its sheath when Ron stood up again. The sword was returned to its holder and Ulquiorra's hand went into his pockets as per his signature stance. The youngest Weasley male was burning with humiliation that he was so easily beaten. He drew his wand and fired a chain of borderline dark curses at the shorter man, expecting an easier victory. Imagine his horror when his strongest spells were side stepped easily. He went on another speech about how he would defeat the hollows with his Gryffindor courage and superior strength, but the Espada zoned out. Ulquiorra was not impressed. He had initially thought that if the British wizards were as arrogant and bigoted as they were for a reason, that they had a powerful repertoire of spells. He could see that they were all talk and knew that none would last a minute in the winter war. The red haired one in front of him and the brunette girl were full of long winded speeches with little power to back themselves up. British wizards were a joke and if this school was the best in the country, he would hate to see the worst. Szayel had looked over the seventh year textbooks and found the most powerful spell they learned in school did little more than slash their opponent across the chest. All the spells even worth looking at were considered "dark" and not forbidden by the law.

These poor excuses for wizards were the most pitiful beings the Espada had ever seen. Ulquiorra had engaged the redhead thinking he would be a good challenge, being in the Golden Trio. Obviously, he was wrong. A spin kick later and Ron was crumpled on the ground with a shattered jaw and concussion.

"Che. You were not worth leaving my seat, trash," Ulquiorra said.

"How dare you? You didn't even use magic. I bet you're a muggle. You wouldn't last a day in this war so you should just go home." Once again, Hermoine lost all common sense. They were posing as delegates from the Japanese _magical_ society. Why would there be any muggles there?

"You brats are irritating me. We come from the Japanese wizarding community, so obviously we would have magic. Just because we don't use it for everything does not mean that we are weak or muggles. You guys are just lazy and feel to the need to flaunt yourselves with flashy spells and unnecessary charms. Who needs a charm to clean your dishes when you can do so yourself. Everywhere else in the world, magic folk are living peacefully alongside their mundane neighbors. They have no need to hide their abilities and have long ago realized magic isn't a crutch to lean on. It is a tool," Szayel burst out. He was so fed up with these people and wondering if they should just go home.

"Ulqui, you and Grimmjow can go watch Hogwarts. The rest of us are going to buy a house in Hogsmeade and stay there for the year. I don't think I could go that long without murdering the entire student population," he continued.

Without a word, the pink haired scientist stood from his place on Nnoitra's lap and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. The others had no choice but to follow, leaving a crowd of stunned wizarding folk. When the five were safely back in their room, they all let their irritations be known. Harribel sat off by herself, but one could see the icy destruction her eyes promised. Nnoitra and Grimmjow had taken to having a shouting contest to vent their anger, every other word a swear. Szayel was writing in his journal and had snapped four pencils already. Ulqui was done with dealing with anymore magic and fell asleep.

It was past midnight when the rest of the Espada turned in. They had one day to themselves before Grimmjow and Ulquiorra went to Hogwarts to evaluate the school.

* * *

Grimmjow woke to the sun shining through the tiny window their room allotted onto his face. He felt a warm weight on his shoulder and found that his little bat had climbed into his bed in the middle of the night. Ulquiorra's head rested on his mate's left pectoral, his hand holding a handful of Grimmjow's jacket. Grimmjow smiled at his younger mate. Since they had gotten together all those years ago, Ulquiorra couldn't sleep in his own bed anymore. He always had to be with Grimmjow. The blue haired man gingerly uncurled Ulquiorra's fingers from his jacket lapel and gently lifted his head onto the pillow. The Cuarta Espada merely sighed and rolled over, falling back into deep slumber. Ulquiorra was not a morning person and became a nightmare to deal with if woken up before nine. Once he was safely off the bed, Grimmjow took a moment to look around the room. The others were gone, probably down to breakfast. He sighed in exasperation and went to brush his teeth. When he returned to the main room, the bed was empty and Ulquiorra was getting dressed. They had nothing to do that day, having no need to purchase any school supplies, so no one opted to wear their uniforms. Ulqui was sliding on a black women's kimono with green ivy leaves crawling over the fabric and a pale blue sash. The bow was forgone in favor of letting the ends of the ribbon dangle behind his legs. This brought a smile to the Sexta Espada's face. His mate always favored traditional clothing as opposed to modern wares. He turned heads and made Grimmjow proud to have the green eyed beauty all to himself. Murcielago in its sheath was slung over his shoulder in a fashion reminiscent of the tenth division captain.

Grimmjow was too lazy to bother with anything fancy. He was fairly low maintenance after all. He threw on some jeans, black trainers and a t-shirt that had a picture of a panther's face on it. Fitting, for the self-proclaimed "Panther King". When he finished dressing, he turned to find Ulqui removing his mask.

Normally, this would be fatal to an arrancar, but after Aizen's death, none of them found the need to wear their masks anymore. Their power level remained the same with or without the bone shards. They just wore them most of the time to serve as a reminder of those days. A hundred years had already passed since the war ended. It was little more than an unpleasant memory now.

Ulquiorra was removing his mask, since it caused so much disturbance the day before, leaving a head of thick black hair in its place. He placed it on his side of the bed and observed himself in the mirror. Smoothing out the ruffles in his hair, he slid a large flower into it. When he deemed himself presentable, Grimmjow was sitting idly on a chair by the window, watching him.

"You know, you take longer than a girl to get ready in the morning," he said.

Ulquiorra blushed and turned away. It wasn't his fault he was high maintenance. Grimmjow hugged him from behind and told him he was only joking around. Arm in arm the couple walked down to breakfast. They found their group sitting at a booth in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron, finishing up the remainders of their meal. They had also forgone the Espada uniforms in favor of civilian clothes. Nnoitra had a very loudly patterned purple Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. His eye patch was still there and Santa Teresa was on his hip. Szayel was wearing pale pink polo shirt with white jeans and blue boating shoes. His mask was his glasses and he couldn't really see without them so they remained a fixture on his face. His Zanpakuto hung on his hip as well. Harribel had joined Ulquiorra in wearing traditional clothing, only her kimono hung off her shoulders, showing a typical amount of cleavage and she held a fan to cover the lower half of her face. She chose to take off her mask as well, but still liked to show only her eyes. Tiburon was resting on the table next to her bowl. Grimmjow shoved Nnoitra over in his seat to make room while Ulquiorra joined Harribel on her side of the booth. He called for tea and Grimmjow called his food. The five spent a good chunk of time that morning sitting in the Leaky Cauldron with Harribel chatting with Ulqui while he stole food from Grimmjow when he wasn't looking. Nnoitra and Szayel were content to cuddle and ignore the fierce glares freely given to them by the wizards. Grimmjow was too busy glaring at all the scummy perverts who wanted his mate to do anything else.

When breakfast was over, the Espada headed to Hogsmeade village to arrange the purchase of a cottage. There were a couple redheads bearing similar traits to one named Ron who irritated them to no end the previous day. It was concluded that they were related and to be avoided at all costs lest the two ukes lose their tempers. The wizard assigned as their real estate agent was a slimy scumbag and tried to swindle them out their money. He tried to charge them three times the price of a cottage for three in Hogsmeade. The Espada were not fools. They had met better liars than that poor excuse for an honest man. The yen to Galleon conversion was favorable, so the five had walked out of Gringotts much richer than they came in, by wizarding standards. Not that they felt the need to flaunt their money by buying lavish things and making a spectacle of themselves. It was not that they could not afford the exorbitant prices the man charged for substandard homes. It was a matter of pride. The man saw they were foreigners and tried to gull them. He talked to them in slow, condescending tones, making hand gestures as if they could not understand English. It irked them to no end. However, they needed his help to buy their home, so they didn't kill him. The five ended up purchasing a cottage on the edges of the village for twice its original price. The scummy real estate wizard had refused to work with them if they pushed the price lower and they had to accept.

The cottage itself was fairly large, with two bedrooms and a comfortable living space. The kitchen was not cramped and the bathroom was clean. There were no curtains on the windows and the paint was peeling, but that was nothing the Espada couldn't handle. There was no furniture to be spoken of at all, making another task for the five to do. Since it was the wizarding world and there were no shinigami, the arrancar were free to use their abilities as they wished. A few swings of Tiburon had the entire place sparkling clean and stripped of paint. Only dark wood remained. They left for the shops, leaving the windows open to air out the cottage in their absence. Several hours later, around lunch time, they five returned laden with boxes of furniture from the shop in Hogsmeade. The owners of the shop seemed gobsmacked to see a voluptuous woman and a beautiful "lady" in dresses carry a bed each on their own. Another two hours saw they boxes opened, the cabinets assembled, and the Espada sitting around their new dining table.

"What are we supposed to do here? These wizards are horrible," Szayel said.

"We are to watch the children from within the school and prevent the manipulations of this Dumbledore character. It is not as if the three of you will be going. It is only Grimmjow and I that must spend our year with the tiresome brats," Ulquiorra explained in his typical deadpan fashion.

"Che. I don't see why we are they only ones that have to go. Why can't we all stay here? Those brats are so fucking annoying. Even the Luppi wasn't that bad, and he was a bitch," Grimmjow said.

"We cannot stand them. You two are the only pair that is capable of going. Nnoitra would kill them all the second they begin to complain and Szayel would kidnap them to perform sick experiments on them. I frankly, do not care," Harribel spoke up. "Ulquiorra is really the only one with sense in this group besides myself. Grimmjow would mediate his temper and he in turn will keep the panther in line."

The tone of her voice told the others her decision was final, being the highest ranking member of their little group. Sighing in defeat, Ulquiorra went up to the bedrooms. Szayel went out into the living room to pore over they books on magic he found and Nnoitra went into town for a drink. Harribel disappeared into her room and Grimmjow followed Nnoitra. The rest of the evening passed without incident and soon it was morning. Szayel was flitting around the cottage getting things ready for Ulqui and Grimm's departure. They were instructed by Voldemort to watch the children from the moment they got on the train. So, they had to ride the Hogwarts express. Szayel was fretting at the two as they got ready, worrying at their clothes and making sure they had everything they needed, much like a certain redheaded mother.

"Szayel relax. We are not students. We do not need any of the supplies or robes they do. We will be fine with a small bag and our Zanpakuto," Ulquiorra assured the frazzled pink head.

They couple left the cottage in mid-morning, leaving them ten minutes to get to Kings Cross station in the mundane world. With a peck on each other's cheek, they left with a burst of sonido.

* * *

Imagine the wizards' surprise when two of the strange foreigners from the other day suddenly appeared at the entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a static sound. Their bony masks were gone and they were dressed in the same white clothes as before. It was the blue haired one and the green eyed one. Ron's face was a myriad of angry reds. Hermoine was red in the face with the memory of her embarrassment. Harry was staring at the couple with a mixture of confusion and caution. Every magical world citizen wondered what the two were doing at the station. The shorter one held up a note and pointed to the pillar they were supposed to pass through, saying something in a different language. The blue haired one snatched the paper and looked at it disbelievingly, drawing some snickers from the pure-blood wizards. The feminine one cuffed the taller one on the back of his head and dragged him through the wall, ignoring the stares of the rest of the witches and wizards.

* * *

Ulquiorra looked up at the bright red steam engine and snorted. He had expected something a little less obvious for their transportation, what with them being in a _secret _magical community. He adjusted the strap on his leather messenger bag and went off to get Grimmjow. It didn't go well with his Espada uniform, but he figured they would have to change on the train and brought a second set of clothing. His mate had gone off to buy tickets. He found Grimmjow arguing with the teller and holding up the rest of the line. There were irate parents yelling at him about how they had to get their kids on the train before it left. The teller was trying to tell Grimmjow that he didn't have enough for two tickets and that he had to find another way to Hogwarts. Ulquiorra walked up to his agitated mate and put his hand on his arm. He dug around in his bag and produced the amount needed for two correctly priced tickets. Once again, the wizarding world saw it fit to play them as fools and over charge them. He handed the coins over and the teller tried to tell him he didn't have enough when Ulquiorra smirked at him and put his hand on Murcielago's hilt, pulling it out just enough to reveal the gleaming silver blade.

"I do believe you think we are stupid. We can read your signs and that one clearly says the tickets are a Galleon each. If you insist upon treating us as second class citizens, I might just have to let my sword out to play, trash," Ulquiorra stated.

The teller looked as if he would wet his trousers. He quickly stammered an apology and handed over the tickets, scraping the money towards him with shaking hands.

Ulquiorra smiled and took the tickets from the man with a polite "thank you", showing no signs of previous hostility. He walked away from the line and a pattering of footsteps behind him told him Grimmjow was following. They left the window area and headed back towards the glaring red train. They were waiting in line to hand their tickets to the conductor in order to be allowed to board when they overheard a snippet of the conversation the irksome redhead was having with his friends.

"I'm telling you they're Death Eaters. They had masks and swords. Everyone in that group was shady. There was this one short guy who thought he could beat me up. I let him win though. As if someone as small and weak as him could beat someone as talented and strong as me. That one with the pink hair too. He was just making it too obvious that he's a faggot. Lord, I hate gays. They can all go to hell. It is so wrong. I prefer tits myself and the ones on that chick with the blonde hair were quite tempting. I bet she would sleep with me if she knew I was Harry Potter's best friend," Ron was telling Dean and Seamus, who seemed entranced by the redhead's blatant display of bigotry and homophobia.

Grimmjow was ready to go over there and give that big headed brat a beating of a lifetime. Nobody insulted Ulquiorra like that and got away with it. He may have been small, but he was certainly not weak. If that idiot thought that the Fourth and Sixth strongest hollows in the world were just going to sit by and let him get away with slandering their names, he was going to wake up to a nasty surprise one day. He cracked his knuckles and barely took a step forward when the conductor got his attention. Grimmjow looked at the outstretched hand for a moment, not comprehending, then understanding dawned on his face and he handed the man his ticket. The conductor looked miffed at having to wait so long to get the stranger's attention, but waved him on board anyway. Ulqui was already there, waiting for him. Together, the two found a compartment with only two other people in it. One was a girl with the same blazing red hair as Ron and the other was a boy who seemed to have just grown out of his baby fat, leaving a strong jaw and sculpted body behind. Upon seeing the red hair, Grimmjow made to leave the compartment immediately, but was forced to enter by his mate.

Ulquiorra sat down in the seat farthest from the other pair as possible and settled down for a long, tedious ride. Grimmjow sat down next to him and he automatically curled up against his mate, falling asleep quickly. The Cuarta Espada was rudely awakened from his nap a couple hours later when the same bothersome trio of students slammed the compartment door open. They marched straight over to the post- pubescent boy and the red haired girl. Ron pushed the boy out of his seat in the name of saving a seat for Harry and proceeded to settle himself in the seat across the way from that one. Hermoine was left to find her own seating and she huffed. As she sat down, Harry Potter finally noticed the two Espada sharing their compartment. His eyes went wide and he shook Ron's shoulder. Ron, who had been stuffing himself full of candy from the trolley, looked up to see two of the five "Death Eaters" sitting right across the aisle from him. He quickly made his way over to them and went to yell in their faces when the taller one stood up. He towered over Ron and his face spoke of irritation.

"Now look here, you bigoted motherfucker. I don't care who you are or who your best friend is, but you have no right to talk shit about us like that. We have tried to be patient with you, but you insist on slandering us. Do you see a Dark Mark on us? No. We do not follow that Dark Lord of yours and we never will. Ulquiorra is not weak and Harribel is not a whore. Szayel may have pink hair and I blue, but it's natural. Just like Ulquiorra's tears. Nnoitra lost his eye when he was younger in a fight. You wizards whine and complain about the littlest things and act like you just fought for a century, but this war of your is nothing compared to others. Other countries have been destroyed by wars too gruesome to imagine. Now you can sit your ass down on that seat over their before I take Pantera and shove the blade inside," the Sexta Espada threatened in a low voice. Ulquiorra had been awake for most of his mate's little speech, but fell asleep near the end. He was now lying curled up on the length of the train seat.

Ron looked humiliated and promptly returned to his seat. Hermoine gave the two Espada a dirty glare while Harry looked worried. The other boy and redheaded girl were having mixed feelings. Neville was somewhat afraid of the newcomers, to be able to silence Ron like that. Ginny was feeling absolute hatred for the newcomers. She had heard her brother talking about these foreign wizards and how they were so rude. She hoped they left soon so she could be free to marry Harry and share in his fame. They were just getting in the way. What if that girl that Ron told her about made Harry fall in love with her and he went back to Japan with her? What if the four other foreigners turned him gay by hanging out with him and he fell in love with a man? There was no way she could let that happen. Those foreigners had to leave right away.

The rest of the train ride passed in silence for the Espada, the only sound in the compartment being the chatter of the Hogwarts students. There was but one disruption when a girl with dreamy, dazed blue eyes joined them in the train car. She was wearing a necklace made of bottle caps and earrings made of the end bits of a turnip. Grimmjow half expected her to start yelling at them like the others, but she merely nodded at the two Espada with a faint smile on her face. She surprised him further when she sat down right across from them and proceeded to read a magazine upside down.

Grimmjow was holding Ulquiorra's head in his lap as his smaller mate slept. He himself began to nod off when the sun began to set. They were both awakened by the announcement system when it came on, saying they had reached Hogsmeade station and that students should begin changing into their uniforms. The girls in the compartment promptly shooed the boys in their group out while they changed and the Espada left without a word. When the girls were done, the boys went in while the couple remained outside. Both groups were now done changing into their robes. Ulquiorra looked at his bag, then at Grimmjow. He wanted to change out of his old Espada uniform. Grimmjow sighed and nodded. Ulquiorra gave a small smile and turned to the wizards.

"Would you mind stepping outside for a moment while I change my clothing? What I have on now is not as suited to the English weather," he asked.

"Why didn't you change with the boys? It's not like you have anything to hide," Hermoine said suspiciously.

"Or are you afraid we might see your scrawny chest and girly skin?" Ron questioned.

"Oh shut up and get out so the man can change!" Neville burst out. The girls looked at each other and left the compartment. The boys, it seemed, were set on staying.

Ulquiorra looked at Grimm, who didn't know what to tell him. Ulqui sighed in defeat and unzipped his Espada uniform jacket, peeling it off to reveal his pale chest.

Ulqui was not scrawny as Ron thought, rather lean and toned. He slipped on a black sweater with overly long sleeves. The sash to his hakama went next, leaving the pants hanging tantalizingly off his hips for a moment before he slid them off to reveal short black boxers and shapely long legs. Over those went black skinny jeans with a leather strip on the sides. Ulquiorra put on an olive green pea-coat and knee high laced boots with a long white scarf around his neck. To blend in more, Ulquiorra added a long black cloak with a large hood. The Espada Uniform went into the messenger bag charmed to magically expand and Murcielago went back over his shoulder. Ron looked disappointed at not getting good blackmail material on the short arrancar. He didn't even have a Dark Mark!

Harry went outside to fetch the girls just as the train pulled into the stop at Hogwarts. Students and new teachers alike began to pour out of the train and onto the platform. Hagrid was standing in his usual spot by the boats, ready to take the first years across the lake to the Sorting ceremony. The thestral drawn carriages were lined up waiting to take the returning students up to the school for the Welcoming Feast. He and his friends climbed into the last carriage and they were about to set off when they saw the foreigners walking up to them. They knocked on the door and asked to ride with them up to the castle. Ron, being Ron, immediately rejected them. Neville, being the more sensible one, told the delegates that all the carriages were full of students. Grimmjow was just about to yell that there was empty space right next to him when Ulquiorra grabbed his arm. The tall, blue haired man quieted and walked away. It appeared that they would have to walk on foot to the school, seeing as how the boats had already left. Ron scoffed.

"Ha! Looks like those two have to walk all the way up there. It has to be at least two miles. They'll be late!" The redhead said this with no small amount of sadistic glee saturating his voice.

"No Ron look! They're going towards the water. The boats already left though," Ginny said. She hoped they would have to go back home.

The arrancar couple was indeed heading towards the shores of the Black Lake. They could see the faint forms of the boats and the light from Hagrid's lantern retreating in the distance. Behind them, the sounds of the carriage wheels could be heard as they rolled away. With the two methods of transportation having already departed, the two arrancar were left with only the option of Sonido. The two blurred out of sight with a burst of static, heading for the road beside the carriages drawn by the skeletal horses. The students inside the carriages saw two white and black blurs speeding beside them all the way to the castle. When the carriages slowed to a stop beside the front of the school and all the kids got off, they found that the white and black blurs had been the delegates, who were standing next to Hagrid as the first years were ushered inside. How they had run so fast, no on had any idea. It did make Ron turn the most amusing shade of crimson, however. The returning students were called into the Great Hall for the Sorting and Welcome Feast and the two arrancar followed the first years. They met up with Professor McGonagall outside the Great Hall. She looked at them up and down, appraising their appearance before deeming them acceptable and splitting from the first years after her customary speech to speak to them. She told them they would be sitting at the Head Table with the rest of the staff for the year. They would have to wait outside the hall before entering when Dumbledore introduced them to the student body. Her words were short and concise, her posture belaying her stern nature. Her work done, the Transfiguration professor made her way inside the hall to assist with the Sorting.

* * *

When the first years had all been sorted into their respective houses and all inhabitants of the castle were enjoying their dinner, Dumbledore stood from his throne-like chair at the Head Table to address the school. He gave his usual speech about the Forbidden Forest and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, then introduced the Espada.

"This year, we have the honor of hosting delegates from the esteemed Japanese magical community. As you all know, they are an ancient, powerful society that is rumored to train warriors capable of blocking the Killing Curse. Their ambassadors will stay with us the entire year to observe and judge. They are to decide if we are worthy enough to offer their help. We are in the final year of our war and both sides grow desperate. The Light side desperately needs all the help we can get, so I ask that you all be on your best behavior. Initially, there were five, but three have decided to stay in Hogsmeade and observe how life outside Hogwarts in the English wizarding world works. Thus, there are only two delegates with us today. May I introduce Mr.'s Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and Ulquiorra Cifer!"

The grand doors to the Great Hall swung open and two figures walked in. All the students immediately turned to look at the foreigners. Who were these people rumored to be able to block the _Avada Kedavra?_ One was a tall man with electric blue hair and eyes that matched. He was wearing strange loose white pants and a jacket that showed off his tanned torso. There was a Japanese style sword hanging from its sheath on his hip. He walked with a swagger in his step and a seemingly permanent scowl on his face. His companion was shorter by a head, with thick black hair and large eyes the color of the Killing Curse. Two green marks ran from under his eyes to his jaw, making it seem as though he was permanently crying. He wore a thick black cloak that billowed out behind him as he walked, revealing black boots, pants, and the sleeves of a black sweater peeking out from under a green coat. He had a brown leather messenger bag across his body and a long katana in a pale green sheath was slung over his shoulder. He did not walk so much as glide, his steps silent. This one certainly made a more dramatic presentation than his partner, despite the shocking blue hair the taller man had. The two made their way to the front of the hall among whispering students and staring staff. They stopped in front of the staff table and bowed as one, bending at the waist with their backs straight. They straightened their posture and turned to the students, repeating their actions, though the bow was more shallow this time.

"As the tradition states, these delegates will be sorted into houses so that they may become a part of the life of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.

The Sorting hat was brought back up and the stool set down. Grimmjow was up first. He eyed the tattered hat with distrust before a glare from Ulquiorra had him sitting in the chair. The Hat took its sweet time in viewing his memories and evaluating his head. It was a full five minutes before the rip in its seam opened and it shouted.

GRYFFINDOR!

Ulquiorra walked down from the staff table to where the stool and Hat waited. He folded his legs and allowed the hat to be placed over his eyes. It carefully sorted through his mindscape, giving Murcielago a wide birth, before the rip opened once again to allow the hat to shout,

SLYTHERIN!

The two arrancar who were longest lasting mated pair in Los Noches were just sorted into opposing houses. Everyone waited with baited breath, as if waiting for the two to end all relations with each other in loyalty to their houses. But nothing happened. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra merely rejoined each other up on the dais, without any conflict. Students were shocked. The foreigners didn't show any signs of knowing of the intense rivalry between the two houses.

Without a word, the two arrancar split and rounded around the staff table to their seats in the center, in between Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick, the taller one pulling out the chair for the shorter one.

Dumbledore once again addressed the students.

"Ahem. These two fine gentlemen will be sitting in on classes together and occasionally participating. Now, before you return to your meals, I have one more thing to add. These two delegates are not human. They are of the strongest class of a demon called hollow. In their culture, it is acceptable for members of the same gender to love each other. They are and have been mated for over two centuries. Hollows are practically immortal creatures and mating is a serious affair. I ask that none of you bother any of them about it. I was warned that they are vastly powerful and have finished a war not too long ago. Thank you for your attention. You may continue with dinner."

Sitting at the staff table, the two arrancar were having a private discussion in their native language of Japanese about a certain Headmaster.

"That man is a good motivational speaker, that is for sure. He appears to have the entire school under the pad of his thumb. They all believe him to be the infallible leader of the Light side. The snake man was right. This man has top class manipulation skills. He is right up there with Aizen and Yamamoto," Ulquiorra observed.

"Che. This man irritates me. I'm telling you right now, if he tries any of that bullshit with us, I'm gonna gut him," Grimmjow growled.

"Hn. We will not fall into his clutches. He already has enough chess pieces to play with. He does not need more. The snake man did mention that the headmaster has the ministry against him. It would be in our favor to sway them further."

"But is is not our job to bring him down. We're only here to watch these brats and make sure they don't get manipulated too much. As much as I hate following orders, I feel as if we shouldn't get involved as much."

"Are you sure? I trust your judgement and I love you, but what is to stop his manipulations from affecting us if we do not actively resist?"

"I am very sure. You may not know much about these things, being Aizen's favorite, but I have had my fair share of being manipulated and swindled."

Ulquiorra sighed and leaned his head on Grimmjow's shoulder, ignoring the strange stares from the surrounding professors.

"I am beginning to think that staying here was not worth it. Perhaps we should have refused the snake man and gone home," Ulquiorra whispered.

Grimmjow put an arm around his mate's shoulder and helped himself to some food.

* * *

The feast was soon over and the students were sent off to their dorms. The undisputed subject of their predicted gossip was the two Espada. Most girls were giggling over how handsome Grimmjow was and how they could see his chest through his jacket. Some fujoshi were fan-girling over how cute the two were. The boys were gossiping about less innocent things. Many "tough" hotshots were outraged that the two delegates were so weak looking. They had expected major manly men to have come, with full armor, rippling muscles and crew cuts in place of the two "young" men they saw. Many more questioned Ulquiorra's right to be there with Grimmjow, thinking of his feminine facade and decided lack of bulging muscles. Some sick, twisted perverts were conspiring bout how they would corner the five foot four Espada and rape him. To say the boys at Hogwarts were scumbags was a major understatement.

While all that jazz was going on on one side of the castle, Professor Snape was leading the two arrancar to what would be their quarters for the year. It was hidden behind a painting of a desolate desert with white sand and dead trees beneath a huge white moon. An armored panther prowled below the main tree and the silhouette of a pair of bat wings could be seen emerging from the dark sky onto the moon. The couple looked at each other. This could not be a coincidence. Snape saw them looking at the painting and explained.

"Headmaster Dumbledore chose that painting for your quarters. He said something about it making you feel more at home. It was something about something your employer said. If you have any questions feel free to ask any of the staff. You will be properly introduced to the rest of the professors tomorrow after dinner. You have to set the password by telling it to the panther. Breakfast is at eight, lunch is at twelve and dinner is at seven. Professor Dumbledore has informed me that you two may be sitting in on some of the classes with my snakes. I shall have you know that they are the best students you will ever have the pleasure of observing. If you must watch over any house, it is the Gryffindors. They constantly stir up trouble for my house with their incessant pranks and insubordination. Just keep that in mind gentlemen. Do try to be impartial. Have a good evening." And with that pleasant note, the Slytherin head of house swept down the hall, his robes billowing like the wings of a bat. The mated pair stood there for a moment, staring after him before they set the password to "Seireitei" and entered their chambers.

Inside, the rooms were spacious, with bamboo furniture and brass decals. The lighting was nice, bathing everything in a warm golden glow, and the bathroom was luxurious. The bathtub could easily fit four people the size of Yammy and the walls were covered in warm gray stone. The ceilings were high and the entire place had dark hardwood walls. The whole living area definitely had an Oriental feel to it that was evident in the artwork that covered the walls and the subtle accents on all the lighting fixtures. The rooms were beautiful, a testimony to how much the Light side wanted to curry favor with the false delegates. The only problem lay in the living room. Mounted on the wall was an enormous tapestry of the headmaster and his phoenix standing in front of the Hogwarts crest. The border was done in red and gold, with subtle accents suggesting a lion maiming a snake. Below that a pile of student robes lay folded one with red and gold, the other with green and silver. Books on Light magic and tomes upon tomes detailing the glory of the Light lay on the tatami floor, along with a note asking them to turn their swords in to the Headmaster's office. Below that on the same piece of parchment was a side note for Ulquiorra to wipe off the makeup on his face before coming to breakfast the next day. Grimmjow glared at the pile of offending school materials while Ulquiorra's eye twitched at the sight of the note and tapestry. They both seethed at the note and scoffed at the books. The tapestry was shredded via Murcielago's sliver blade and the uniforms via Grimmjow's claws. The note was tossed into the fireplace and the massive pile of tomes was dealt with in true arrancar fashion. They both took all the books out to the Forbidden Forest and took turns destroying them with cero. As they watched the black ashes rain down, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra sat from the boughs of a large tree. It was the perfect height for watching the entire outdoor campus of Hogwarts. After the green and red flashes died out from the sky, the two remained sitting in the tree, deciding it was their favorite spot on campus. Grimmjow sat with his back to the main trunk of the giant tree, holding Ulquiorra close to him. That was how they stayed until morning. The sun rose to find two Espada sleeping together in the Forbidden Forest tree, oblivious to the population of Hogwarts sleepily getting ready to face the day.

Once again, it was Grimmjow who woke up first. He saw the torches being lit up at the castle in the dim light of the rising sun and gently shook Ulquiorra awake. his smaller mate took his sweet time in waking up from his contented slumber. Once Ulquiorra was awake enough to be aware of his surroundings and be able to Sonido properly, the couple returned to their pristine rooms. They both jumped into the bath together to save time and were out climbing out ten minutes later to get dressed. The two, being hollows, did not need to eat to survive, but the class they wanted to sit in on was right after breakfast and being late on one's first official day did not make lasting good impressions. Grimmjow wore an electric blue t-shirt under a black leather jacket and ripped jeans with brown hiking boots. Two silver chains hung from his pockets and a pair of sunglasses was dangling from his shirt. Ulquiorra wore tight grey jeans under his boots and a black jacket with yukata sleeves. He had grown his hair to length it was in his second resurrection form a long while ago, so it was pulled into a bun with a wood hair stick with a black bat and emerald tassel dangling from the end. Both of the Espada added cloaks to their ensembles, with Grimmjow's in grey and Ulqui's in black. They put their Zanpakuto in plain site to spite the Headmaster and left for the Great Hall.

They arrived just as the Professors were handing out time tables and stood in a corner to watch. Grimmjow put his arm around Ulquiorra's trim waist as they waited for the wizard students to finish complaining about their schedules. The Headmaster dismissed the students and they rose to start their classes, most grumbling all the way. The Espada couple were just about to leave when they were called back by the Headmaster. Grimmjow's arm tightened around Ulquiorra in irritation and his mate gave a quiet hiss in annoyance. Headmaster Dumbledore made his way over to where the two stood, his vomit triggering robes swishing about his feet. Today they were a neon purple with moving silver stars sewn in and a matching hat and shoes. Dumbledore made a shocking contrast to the toned down dress of the two hollows. He had a condescending smile fixated on his face and an annoying twinkle in his eye. Ulquiorra reached under his cloak to finger the hilt of Murcielago. he had never met anyone who set him off as easily as Dumbledore.

"Good morning Mr. Jeagerjaques, Mr. Cifer. I trust you had a pleasant evening. Listen, did you two see the gifts we left for you in you rooms. I believe there was a note included directing you both to wear the student uniforms and turn in the swords. There was also a bit in their about your facial makeup, Mr. Cifer. I'm afraid we cannot allow you both to have those things here. Weapons beside your wands are prohibited and all non-staff members must be wearing the student uniforms. I will gladly take your blades while you both go upstairs to change," Dumbledore said.

"Excuse me Dumbledore-san, but we cannot allow that. Our Zanpakuto are a part of us and how we channel our 'magic'. As for our uniforms, we are not staff, but we are not students here either. Our employer informed us that we would be allowed to dress as we wished. I am not wearing any makeup whatsoever. Contrary to what most people believe, this is my natural appearance. I was born looking this way," Ulquiorra deadpanned, his eyes two chips of ice. "If you will excuse us, Dumbledore-san, the class we wish to sit in on has already started. Your grounds keeper, Hagrid-san, was kind enough to invite us to participate in his class as guest subjects. I would hate to miss his class entirely on our first day. Good-bye Headmaster-san."

He turned sharply on his heel and began to walk away. The pattering of footsteps behind him assured Ulquiorra that Grimmjow was following, his vastly longer legs making it a simple matter to keep pace with the irate emerald-eyed beauty. The arrancar couple exited the massive front doors of the castle, walking swiftly across the grassy field with their cloaks flaring dramatically out behind them. Hagrid's hut was reached without any trouble, the class already assembled outside. Ulquiorra could see the massive figure of the half giant towering over the first and second years. The perpetually happy man waved the two over and began the lesson.

**Imagine Hagrid's accent here. I can't write it. Sorry.**

"Okay class. We were gonna study flobberworms today, but our two resident hollows have oh so graciously agreed to be the subjects of our study for the week. This here is Ulquiorra Cifer and his mate Grimmjow Jeagerjaques."

Ulquiorra bowed to the class, his hands resting in his sleeves while Grimmjow only grunted in acknowledgment. The students were instructed by an overly excited Hagrid to go up to the two Espada and ask them any questions they liked for the first ten minutes of class. Most of the boys flocked to Grimmjow, he being the "manlier one" of the pair, while the shorter Ulquiorra got the pleasure of answering the girls' questions. The boys mainly asked Grimmjow about fighting and sex while the girls asked more sensible questions, but the topic that raised the most questions was subject of the Zanpakuto. The curious children wanted to know what they were for. Grimmjow tried to give as best an explanation as he could, as did Ulquiorra, but in the end they decided the best thing to do was demonstrate a little of their swords' power. After all, there were no shinigami and nothing in this world could truly harm them. This excited Hagrid even more and he quickly ushered the class to the edge of the forest to watch.

The two Espada dropped their cloaks and faced each other in plain view of the students, who were rapidly taking notes. Grimmjow was smirking arrogantly and cracking his joints, but there was a playful glint in his eye. The same spark could be seen in Ulquiorra's eyes as he stood their with his hands still in his sleeves. They were looking for a chance to properly spar for so long and this, even if it was brief, was a welcome reprieve from the boredom. The two would never hurt each other and their playful intent could be seen glimmering in their eyes. They both took a vastly different approach to the small battle. Grimmjow was crouched low to the ground in a decidedly predatory stance with a feral grin on his face. Ulquiorra was standing upright, in no stance whatsoever, with his hands in his sleeves. At an unseen cue, the two arrancar sprang at each other and drew their blades. The glimmering silver of their swords rang as they clashed together, clean metal gleaming in the mid-morning sun. Fourth pushed against Sixth for a tantalizing moment, the two warriors gazing into each other's eyes with pure determination. Grimmjow finally gave a mighty shove and the two went flying apart, their feet skidding on the Hogwarts green. Ulquiorra was the first to recover blurring towards Grimmjow with a burst of Sonido. The self-proclaimed Panther King managed to bring his blade up just in time to block the speedy attack. Grimmjow's fighting technique was based on brute strength and absurd agility while Ulquiorra's was pure speed and tactical superiority. Grimmjow lashed out with an attack of his own, a harsh frontal slash meant to decapitate, but Ulquiorra sprang into the air and out of the way. Grimmjow smirked and followed, taking the entire battle into the air. He knew that if it was a serious fight he would be dead already, but they were not fighting to kill. In the air, the pair of hollows stood on condensed platforms of reiatsu as they fought, exchanging vicious crippling blows at speeds faster than the eye could follow. Grimmjow bent backwards to narrowly avoid Ulquiorra's lunge slash, which grazed the tip of his nose instead of cleaving his head in half as it was intended. He straightened back up quickly before going on the offensive, assaulting Ulquiorra with brutal stabs and wide swings of Pantera. Ulquiorra countered by Sonido-ing past Grimmjow's guard, their chests nearly touching, before kicking him in the chin. His leg swung up impossibly fast, reaching so high it was almost vertical, and Grimmjow was sent flying. He caught himself before he smashed into the trunk of a tree and Sonido-ed behind Ulquiorra. He slammed the back edge of Pantera into Ulquiorra's neck, sending him crashing to the ground. Grimmjow landed lightly on the ground and walked to the edge of the small crater in the grass where Ulqui lay. He peered in and saw his mate lying prone in the dirt, his Zanpakuto stuck in the ground inches from his hand. Ulquiorra had landed on his side and lay there, unconscious with his limbs sprawled limply. A trickle of blood made its way down his face from somewhere beneath his hair.

Grimmjow panicked and dropped Pantera, the blade sticking straight up in the soil, before rushing to his mate's side. He held Ulquiorra's head in his lap and yelled at one of the students to get help. Tears were running in fat streaks down his face as he ran his hand through the soft black hair. He knew his strength could get out of check in spars, but never before had he hurt his mate because of it. Grimmjow held Ulquiorra as the students ran for Madame Pomfrey. He felt Ulquiorra stir and move beneath him. Grimmjow's ears picked up a soft whisper and he leaned in to listen more closely. Ulquiorra's lips moved and he said these words,

"You are far too gullible. _Enclose, Murcielago._"_  
_

Grimmjow's eyes widened just as he was forced back by the massive black bat wings of Ulquiorra's first release form. He was forced to shield his eyes as the wings beat upwards, sending gusts of wind to batter the observers. When Grimmjow removed his arm from his eyes, he saw the unharmed form of his mate hovering above him. Ulquiorra's sleeves were tattered and the jacket had gained the signature coat tails. His mask had re-appeared on his head, growing two wide long horns with a smaller set below them and moving to his crown this time. A pair of giant black bat wings kept him aloft and tufts of pitch colored fur sprouted at their base. Murcielago in the form of a deadly spear was held in his right hand, the tip pointing at Grimmjow's chest. The spear glowed and turned a familiar green shade. The students below were immediately reminded of the infamous Killing Curse. Ulquiorra threw the lance and Grimmjow only barely managed to break out of his shock to dodge. The lance shot past him, singeing the right side of his hair before exploding when it finally hit the lake. Grimmjow was distracted for an instant and that was all the time needed for his mate to have him at claw point. Grimmjow looked down and saw the small cero beginning to build before Sonido-ing out of the way. Ulquiorra cut off the power flow to the attack and looked around, searching for the telltale sign of blue hair. By then Grimmjow was already in his release form. Flexible white bone armor encased his body and a headpiece appeared on his brow. His ears turned to that of a panther's and his extremities into paws. Grimmjow's hair lengthened to reach his heels in a wild tumble and he grew a long, armored tail. Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow.

"Come," he said.

Grimmjow had just lunged at his smaller winged mate, intending to restart the battle that was just about to become interesting when the medical witch arrived with the student who went to fetch her. She saw the rest of the class watching the sky in awe before she saw the two figures in the air, trading lethal blows like nothing. She had been told that one was injured, but they both looked fine to her. She sent sparks into the air with her wand to get their attention and stop the fight that could potentially endanger students. The red sparks caught the Espada's eyes and they descended from the sky, ending their spar. Grimmjow went out of his resurrection form while Ulquiorra stayed. They touched down on the grass and were immediately swarmed by first and second years teeming with unasked questions. Ulquiorra was getting irritated by the little children and almost killed them all when one audacious boy decided it was wise to try and touch his wing. Grimmjow quickly barred the boy from stepping closer and Hagrid stepped in to mitigate the situation. He told the class that they would have a chance to ask more questions the next day. There was a collective groan of disappointment from boys and girls alike before the class dispersed. Soon only the Espada, Hagrid, and Madame Pomfrey were left on the field.

"I was told there was an injured person. The child who fetched me said it was the darker colored delegate. You both seem fine to me, although I disapprove of fighting while there are students around," Madame Pomfrey said with a click of her tongue.

"It was a tactic I employed to ensure victory in our little duel, Pomfrey-san. No one was truly hurt and we were holding back greatly. Please do not take it to heart. The blood was fake and all else was merely acting. The both of us are not injured in any way," Ulquiorra replied dully.

"Hn. Alright. I'll let it slide for now, but do try to refrain from having couples' spats in the presence of children. Good day gentlemen." With that statement, the medical witch of Hogwarts made her way back up to the castle where her domain resided. When she was gone, Hagrid turned to the Espada in pure excitement. He was so awed by their display of power that he wanted to know more.

"What was that you two just did? How did you stand on air like that? Do ya think you could teach me to do that too. Ya know the other professors aren't that nice to me. What with me not having a wand and being a half-giant and all," he said. It was true. The other teachers on campus looked down their noses at him. To them, he was just the poor Magical Creatures professor without a wand. The half-breed who was expelled and brought back out of the pity of Dumbledore's heart.

"Sorry, man. What we do is kinda restricted to our species. Hollows only, ya know? Wish we could teach you. Are the teachers here that ridiculous? They seemed like real pricks at dinner yesterday. Always walking like they have a stick up their asses and whatnot," Grimmjow replied.

"Indeed Hagrid-san. We would like to teach you, but you do not have spiritual pressure yet. The other professors are truly fools. There is one thing we noticed in every member of the wizarding society, muggleborn or not. They always look down upon those who are not of the human race. Before we came here, we were given several books on the laws of the English magical community to read. A majority of the laws here are made to glorify the wizards and push the other races into the mud, so to speak. This led to research about the other magical species in Britain. There are many other races with capabilities that far surpass those of the wizards. If it pleases you, we will find a way to make your year more pleasant. Perhaps we could meet for tea every now and then?" Ulquiorra said. He had gone out of his resurrection form and was left in his transformed clothing.

Hagrid wiped a tear from the corner of his eye with a handkerchief the color of eggshells, before nodding gratefully. He still wanted to know about the amazing powers the two displayed in the spar.

"Those were our resurrection forms. They're something only Espada can do. An Espada is the highest class of hollows, which are ranked based on their strength. When they evolve into this final form, they gain a Zanpakuto, or soul cutter. The Zanpakuto is the manifestation of the Espada's power. Each has its own attribute reflecting the hollow's type. I am a panther type while Ulqui is the only bat type. The resurrection is when the Espada unlocks their full power and changes forms. The resurrection gives the Espada a major power boost as well as giving them access to attacks only they can use. The whole standing on air thing is due to solidifying the spirit particles in the atmosphere. To do that requires the person to be either a living person with reiatsu or one of the dead races. The dead races are either Shinigami or hollows from arrancar class and up. That's really all we can tell ya without making yer head explode," Grimmjow said.

Hagrid was amazed. Not only had he made friends with the obviously powerful delegates, they were so nice to him and told him secrets Dumbledore would kill to have.

"Thank ye very much. Hows about we meet for tea next week after my classes are over?" He asked.

"That would be lovely Hagrid-san," Ulquiorra said with a small bow. "If it is not too much trouble, could you keep what we told you to yourself?"

"Of course not! I wasn't gonna tell the others anyway. They're a shady bunch they are. Watch out for a group called the Order of the Phoenix. They're a right nasty gathering of bigoted idiots who think hiding behind a prophecy and a teenager will win the war. See you guys at lunch."

"I am afraid we will not be attending lunch, Hagrid-san. We have no need to eat anymore."

"Oh. Well you'll be there at dinner right?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore-san wants to properly introduce us to the staff. There is no doubt in my mind that he will try to manipulate us in some way."

"Yea. That bastard irritates me. Can't we just ditch and go live with the others for the rest of the year?" Grimmjow cut in.

"No. We have to wait until someone back home devises a way to bring us back. We just have to last that long without killing anyone." Ulqui said.

"Well I have another class to prepare for, so see you two soon, ya?" Hagrid took his leave.

The whole ordeal had taken up the entire morning and the students were at lunch in the Great Hall. The halls of Hogwarts castle were empty and completely silent save for the low din of conversation the closer one got to the Great Hall. It was certainly a welcome change from the seemingly endless drone of meaningless conversation and gossip that flowed from students' mouths like water from a spring. With everyone in the Great Hall tending to their bodily needs, the Espada couple were free to roam the school unhindered. Without the obnoxious children, the castle was quite a stunning building, with tall stone walls and ancient paintings. Grimmjow was most intrigued by the collection of magical portraits and other enchanted objects scattered about the school. He especially liked the moving suits of armor that he could talk to. That was where he would often be found in the upcoming months, talking to the portraits of noble knights of old. Ulquiorra much preferred the library to the spelled curios. As the year went by students would soon learn that he spent most of his free time poring over ancient tomes of magic from the Restricted section. Over the next year, Madame Pince would find a kindred spirit in the short Espada, thus turning a blind eye to his browsing. But, for now, the two were walking in a corridor lined with floor length windows. The sunlight was streaming in through the iron framed glass, illuminating the gilded accents on the furniture. Grimmjow was holding Ulquiorra close as they walked, an arm around his slim waist. It was at least ten degrees cooler inside the castle than out, and it was still September. The halls were chilly and Ulqui was feeling nippy. Being a hollow that was air based, he didn't mind the cold _too_ much. But he wanted a reason to cuddle with Grimmjow. A not-so-subtle shiver later and the two were in their rooms curled up on the bed.

They cuddled with each other for the entire lunch hour. Grimmjow occasionally leaned down for a kiss from his smaller mate, causing him to laugh. Ulquiorra would then burrow deeper into the covers and curl up even further. Other than that, they remained in their quarters. When the lunch period was over, the two still had two hours before the other class they wanted to observe convened. This one was Grimmjow's choice. He wanted to watch the Defense Against Dark Arts class for the seventh years. He had read in the school history book that they were the most advanced class taught at Hogwarts and wanted to see if they were up to stuff. When they heard the unmistakable sound of students passing by the entrance to their rooms, they groaned. The children were certainly nosy. Most of them were busy gossiping about this and that, blowing the actual situations out of proportion and slandering their unfortunate subject's reputation. It only got worse then the familiar loud voice of Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger approached the portrait. Ron was ranting, yet again, to his group of Gryffindor lackeys about how bad the two delegates were. His presence stopped right in front of the painting and only got louder as his monologue went on. So loud, in fact, that the two arrancar could hear him and his girlfriend talking from their position on the other side of the solid stone wall at the end of a short hallway.

"Look at this painting Harry. Look at it and tell me this isn't shady. Those two are so obvious about it too. The emo even dressed in all black today. I mean what the hell? Does no one notice around here? They even have a Dark portrait!" Ron ranted.

"Ron. It's not that bad. Maybe it was already there when their rooms were built," Harry's voice floated through the wall.

"It's a bloody desert, Harry! A desert with dead trees, white sand, and demons. This one looks like that blue haired guy and the wings obviously belong to some devil too ugly to show. Look at how that overgrown cat is staring at us. It looks like it wants to eat everything it sees. Whatever hideous thing is attached to that pair of wings is too scared of us to show itself. It's just like that emo guy. He's so weak and needs his precious boyfriend to defend him all the time. He only won that time in the alley because I let him win. Who wouldn't feel sorry for that ugly piece of shit? He looks like a bloody girl for crying out loud! I don't see why that guy even has a boyfriend. He's so ugly with those gross green marks and disgusting skin tone. He can't even have kids. How does he expect to be a good wife and continue his boyfriend's line if he can't give him any children? That's all he'll ever be good for anyway. Sex and blow jobs. That fat whore should just go die," Ron shot back rather venomously.

"Ron! Be quiet. They could be inside. They could hear us," Hermoine cut in.

"Hmph. They probably can't. Too busy sucking face and fucking each other to notice. Fucking gays. We should get to class before Snape yells at us,"

With that poisonous barb, the Gryffindor group walked off to what was assumed to be Potions class. Grimmjow scoffed at them in annoyance. They irritated him more than Gin. He looked down at Ulquiorra and the sight he found shocked him.

* * *

**ooc warning. **

There were tears streaming down Ulqui's face. Actual tears. He was clutching at Grimmjow's jacket as he sobbed. Ulquiorra was very insecure. It came from what he went through in his human life. It left him with no self-esteem whatsoever. Since getting his memories from his life back, Ulquiorra was no longer emotionless, but he was a lot more insecure.

"Is what he said true? Am I really just good for sex? Do you think I am ugly like he said? I am sorry I cannot give you any children. I really want to, but I cannot! I am such a whore. I am so weak, to have lost to the shinigami like that. I am pathetic. Do you get disgusted when I touch you? Am I really fat and disgusting? Please tell me. I will change if I have to, just do not leave. I finally found my heart with you. Please do not tear it out again," Ulqui pleaded. He meant it. If Grimmjow did not like the way he was, he would change to make him happy.

It broke Grimmjow's heart to see his mate so shaken up like that. He really wanted to kill that brat now. Making his little bat cry like that. Ulquiorra did not cry very often, so when he did it was a big deal. It meant something really got to him. He gathered the shorter Vasto Lord in his arms and rocked him back and forth.

"Hush. Don't listen to those little fuckers. They don't know what the hell they're saying. You are the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life, both as a human and as an Espada. You are certainly not fat at all. Look at yourself. You are all wiry muscles. There is not one bit of fat on your body that you don't need. As for you being a whore, that is complete and utter bullshit. Being with me does not make you a slut. Neither does wanting attention from me, okay? Those guys are too fucking blind to see how beautiful you are. When I first saw you, I fell in love for the first and only time in my life. Got that? There will never be someone who I love and care about more than you. I love the way you laugh and how only I get to hear it. I love your thick soft hair that fans out underneath you when you sleep. Your bright green eyes glisten when you smile and glow when you laugh. I love how you have those pretty green marks on your face and how they stay there even in your release forms. They make me want to hold you and protect you even more. And don't you ever think that you are weak. You have immense power and could probably obliterate me without trying. You have a second resurrection form that even Aizen didn't see. You could have killed that Ichigo kid couldn't you? But you saw how much that Orihime girl cared for him and pulled your cero to the side. I saw everything. I saw how actual tears ran down your face every night after you went to the living world because you saw all the couples and believed you could never have that. I've seen you help children, even before we got together. You, Ulquiorra Cifer, are a wonderful person and should never doubt that even for a second because of some half assed attempt at mockery," Grimmjow comforted his dejected mate. It was gut wrenching to see the normally so collected Cuarta Espada behave that way. Grimmjow swore he would get the bastards that did this to pay dearly. He would make them wish for death to come and relieve them of their pain.

* * *

Ulquiorra took the better part of the afternoon to calm down and, when his tears were finally dried, it was time to observe the class Grimmjow chose. He wiped his eyes and ran a comb through his mussed hair. Grimmjow was waiting at the end of the hallway to the portrait entrance when he went to grab Murcielago. He pecked him on the pale cheek and they headed out. Technically, they were watching the Bratty Trio , but they were satisfying their own motives along the way. As long as no students were killed, they were not breaking their deal with Voldemort.

The Defense classroom was in the western-most wing of the grand old castle. As the two got closer to the thick wooden doors, the chattering of seventh year students became more and more apparent. The usual gossip was being discussed. The boys were talking about the upcoming professional quidditch season championships. The "Golden Trio" was oddly silent. Even the seemingly incessant ranting of the youngest Weasley male was absent. The two Espada stood outside the classroom for a few minutes, just listening to the frivolous conversations of students so confident in their upcoming war victory. Remus Lupin, who survived, had been invited back to teach the subject upon demand of the students. He was right on time that day and arrived at his classroom just as the final bells tolled. He noticed the two Espada standing there, looking quite awkward and invited them in with a gracious smile. The students all cheered as he walked in, calling out statements of gratitude at his reinstatement and immediately began whispering when the two arrancar entered the classroom. The mated pair was disappointed to find that the Golden Trio was present. It shouldn't have been surprising that they had gotten into the advanced class, but one could dream. The Weasley sneered at Ulquiorra as he walked towards the back of the room with Grimmjow, muttering "fags" under his breath. The muggleborn witch merely turned her attention elsewhere. Harry openly stared at them. He had heard rumors about their fight in the Magical Creatures class thanks to the infamous Hogwarts rumor mill, and wondered how powerful they really were. Once the classroom was silent and settled back down, Professor Lupin began his lecture. He said that they would be working more on the practical parts than on the theory in seventh year, much to the disappointment of one Hermoine Granger, who had been hoping to show off her book knowledge.

"For the first lesson, we will be reviewing the three Unforgivable Curses. Now, I was told that Professor Moody used spiders as his test subjects in demonstrating all three. But I feel that spiders are too small and emotionless for students to really get a good understanding of just how destructive the curses are. Does anyone want to suggest a more suitable test subject?" Lupin asked, not knowing he was causing even more stress for the foreigners.

Hermoine raised her hand and was called on.

"How about cats, sir?"

"Hm. I don't think Professor McGonagall would appreciate us using felines for our study of the Unforgivables." Professor Lupin replied, drawing rounds of laughter from those who understood his joke.

"What about snakes, Professor?" Harry suggested.

"I do not think that will work either. Think bigger!"

Ron sat there, thinking hard, before a particularly malicious thought popped into his disgusting cesspool of a mind. He raised his hand and was promptly called on by Professor Lupin.

"What about the two delegates? Professor Dumbledore said they were practically immortal, so they should be able to survive the Unforgivables."

"Now, mister Weasley, that is no way to behave. These two gentlemen are our guests and will be treated with honor. I hardly think it would bode well for magical Britain if we shot Killing curses at them on their first day."

Grimmjow had been watching the discussion with avid interest the moment he heard of the Unforgivables. He pushed himself away from the stone wall, leaving Ulquiorra standing there shaking his head, and joined Professor Lupin in front of the student congregation. He put a companionable arm around the other man's shoulders and gave the class a bone chilling smile.

"Now, now. I do think we can indulge these young minds. We are, after all, in your home. The least we could do is oblige a young man's curiosity. I'll gladly let you shoot these Unforgivables at me." Grimmjow's voice had taken on the mocking tone he used whenever fighting with one of the Shinigami.

"See, Professor? They're fine with it! Let's see if these so called delegates are as strong as Dumbledore makes them sound." Ron called out.

"V-very well. If our guests are permitting we conduct our study of the Unforgivables on them." Professor Lupin said with a gulp.

"Bah! One little spell ain't gonna penetrate my hierro, much less hurt me. Fire away!" Grimmjow declared.

Professor Lupin slowly got up from his seat behind the standard teacher's desk and approached the blue haired Espada. Ulquiorra decided to hang back, and watch. The werewolf professor started with the _Imperius_ curse. He lectured before actually casting the spell on Grimmjow. The students were watching, mesmerized, save for a few who were frantically scribbling down notes, Hermoine Granger being on of them.

"This fearsome spell gives the caster complete and utter control of the victim's body. With a single command, the victim can be forced to do a humiliating dance of sing a children's nursery rhyme. On the darker side, the caster can also force the victim to reveal crucial war secrets, or kill innocent people. This spell was thought to be absolute, that no one could break out of it, thus bringing great despair to the wizarding masses for a long period of time. This notion was disproved by none other than our own Harry Potter, who broke out of an _Imperius _cast by the Dark Lord himself."

At this, all the students in the classroom turned as one to stare in awe at the so called Savior. Harry had the decency to look awkward as all the attention in the class abruptly shifted to him. Beside him, Ron puffed out his chest like a strutting peacock, as if he somehow had a share of his friend's glory. Professor Lupin clapped his hands sharply and the students reluctantly turned back to him. The Unforgivable flew at Grimmjow, who stood there and stared at it as it hit him in the chest. He stumbled a bit from the force put behind the beam of light and straightened up but other than that, nothing significant occurred. Remus was shocked at first, looking at his wand as if doubting he cast the spell correctly. Grimmjow did not look affected by the forbidden curse at all. Normal victims of the curse displayed glassed over eyes and limp body carriage, but Grimmjow's eyes were still that electrifying blue color and he was still standing tall. The students were confused at the lack of reaction and one particular member of the "Golden Trio" looked vastly disappointed. Ron was hoping that the taller blue haired man would show himself to be susceptible to the three Unforgivables. That way, he could make them reveal all their secrets and cause the shorter one unimaginable pain.

Seeing as the delegate did not provide an adequate reaction to the mind control spell, Remus had to choose another subject. Before he could conjure up some unfortunate animal, Draco Malfoy volunteered under the notion that he could overcome anything some Gryffindor could. At the rear of the spacious classroom, Ulquiorra gave a low chuckle and stood away from the wall to watch the foolish young wizard posturing like a rooster at the front. Draco stood bravely in front of Professor Lupin, his muscles tense in preparation for the spell's impact. Professor Lupin quietly uttered the trigger word for the Unforgivable curse and the eerie glowing light raced toward the young Slytherin's at his cue. Like with Grimmjow, Draco stumbled back a few steps from the sheer force. Unlike the Sexta Espada, however, his posture went limp and his silvery grey eyes glazed over in the indication that the spell had taken hold. It seemed that the cocky young wizard was not as powerful of will as he liked to believe. The two Espada were not surprised. Wizards did not have another being dwelling within their mindscape, protecting them from psychological attacks. Nor were they particularly willful or mentally strong, having grown too dependent on their arcane abilities. It was even more disappointing to see that the wizard put up no fight and showed absolutely no resistance to the Unforgivable.

Seeing that his spell took effect, Professor Lupin called out orders. The unfortunate Slytherin ended up dancing the can can and using his wand as an over sized earwax remover. It was an overall humiliating experience for the proud young wizard, both at failing to outdo the blue haired arrancar and at being forced to do such humiliating things without being able to put up a shred of resistance. As expected of teenage students, everyone in the classroom burst out laughing. The platinum blonde heir blushed a shade of furious red and trudged back to his seat with no little measure of reluctance.

The rest of the lesson passed without disruptions. Grimmjow returned to the back wall of the lecture room with his mate after cutting the Killing Curse in half and not batting an eyelash at the _Cruciatus. _Once the class period ended, the two arrancar retreated back to their quarters for several rounds of vigorous "mating". They were required to attend dinner that night on account of Madame Pomfrey insisting they needed to eat more. The mated pair of arrancar sat at the head table in the same spot they used the previous evening, feeling rather out of place among the students gorging themselves on the greasy, artery clogging food provided by the kitchens. The meal choices for the professors was not much better. Grimmjow ended up taking some potatoes and a piece of bacon casserole while Ulquiorra took the mushrooms and boiled vegetables. The casserole ended up being torn apart on Grimmjow's plate to make it look like he ate something and the potatoes were stomached with no small amount of pepper to help them down. Grimm could feel them lodging in a dense wad in his stomach. Ulquiorra did not fare much better. At one point, as the meal was winding down, he choked on a raw piece of carrot that got lodged in his windpipe above his hollow hole. He couldn't just open his jacket and show the entire hall his hole, they were already staring at him for choking. So, Ulqui spent a good five minutes hacking and coughing until Professor Snape thumped him soundly on the back, dislodging the perpetrating root vegetable. The professor received a thankful look from the short Espada and merely nodded in return.

When dinner ended and the students were dismissed back to their dorm rooms, the two Espada were led to the headmaster's office to be properly introduced to the staff of Hogwarts. Dumbledore bade them all sit after summoning more squishy chairs to accommodate all the people. Painstakingly, the arrancar couple were introduced to every last member of the Hogwarts staff, from the professors to the kitchen house elves. When Sybil Trelawney set her bug-like eyes on the two, she immediately began screaming things about great black claws and green beams of light. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra looked at each other warily. The woman was a seer, albeit a bad one, but a registered seer nonetheless. Professor Snape was warmer with the two arrancar than he was with any other inhabitant of Hogwarts, including the headmaster. Hagrid was already familiar with the Espada pair. Remus Lupin was wary of the two after seeing what they were capable of in his class. The rest of the professors were either optimistically welcoming or blatantly hostile. The house elves seemed terrified at first. Then Grimmjow bent down to their level and patted Winky on the head. After that, the Sexta Espada found himself swarmed with excited house elves touching his bright blue hair and babbling things about his kindness. They then saw Ulquiorra standing a little ways to the side and began to chatter to Grimmjow about how pretty his " little Miss" was and how "hims be prettier than the veelas Winky saw when Harry Potter sir was in that nasty Tournament, Winky did".

There was a furious red blush on both of their faces for the rest of the evening as Grimmjow put a possessive arm around Ulquiorra's thin waist, his hand straying too low to be socially decent. The ghosts of Hogwarts were in awe at the two arrancar. They could sense that the pair were not alive, but they appeared just as tangible as someone who was. It was something all ghosts could only dream of. To be able to walk among the living and touch tangible things while still retaining immense power.

The last one to be introduced to the two former Espada was Professor Vector. She was a beautiful young woman who taught the subject of Ancient Runes with a severe personality. She and Ulqui hit it off immediately, falling into an intense discussion about advanced formulas of physics. She wanted to know how Ulquiorra was capable of producing his Lanza de Relampago. She saw it from the large window of her classroom during their little "spar" and wanted to know how he shaped the light into a spear with the destructive power of a laser beam. Ulquiorra, in turn, wanted to know everything there was to know about her subject. All the runic circles and arrays fascinated him to no end. The two excused themselves from the office and left, still absorbed in their rapid fire discussion, leaving Grimmjow with the rest of the Hogwarts staff.

"Well. I do believe that those two will be quite close friends in the near future. I guess that concludes our little meet and greet. Goodnight everyone, and have a restful slumber," Albus Dumbledore dismissed the rest of the office's occupants easily. The rest of the teachers left without a word. Grimmjow was about to step out the door when the headmaster called him back.

"What is it old man?"

"I don't remember you introducing yourself tonight. I would like to get to know both you and your mate, but he seems to have left with our dear Professor Vector. Now tell me about yourself. Lemon drop?"

"There is no way in hell I am telling you anything you meddling old coot. We are under no obligations to divulge any information about ourselves. Unless you've forgotten, Ulquiorra and I are members of the Japanese magical society. We do not answer to anyone in this country. You bastards are completely delusional. I regret agreeing to this in the first place. If it weren't for that snake faced asshole, all five of us would be back in Karakura town with our families."

"Now, Grimmjow-"

"Don't you fucking call me that! I'm not your friend or your relative and I certainly don't remember giving you permission to call me by my first name. It's Mr. Jeagerjaques"

"On that note, your last name sounds French. If that is so, why are you a Japanese citizen. Shouldn't you be here in the European magical community? Surely we have more to offer a powerful individual like yourself than the Japanese. There have been many books written here about the lacking intelligence of the Japanese magical society. It would be a shame for someone of your immense talents were dulled by their ignorance. Likewise, why isn't our dear Ulqui not living in Mexico? They have a fairly adequate Ministry there."

"You racist baboon! Both Ulquiorra and I were born on the Japanese islands! Just because our names don't match the country doesn't mean that we don't belong there. And last time I checked, the European magical community is at the absolute bottom in the ranks of magical societies. Asian countries have been dealing with the supernatural long before England was even a country! Here, you still use Latin for your magical catalysts. In most other countries, incantations are not even necessary anymore. The ancient Greek sorcerers didn't use words to cast their spells. You guys are ridiculed all around the world for holding your students back!"

That was mostly made up. Grimmjow knew that Japan had a prominent magical community, but he did not know how old it was or if they used incantations. The bit about the Greeks was also a complete lie. He didn't even know if they ranked magical countries at all! But, it made his case seem much more believable. A delegate had to know of the rich magical history of his country and many others, right? Let it never be said that Grimmjow Jeagerjaques was not clever.

"Now that is no way to speak to your elders Grimmjow, my boy"

"Shut the fuck up! It's Mr. Jeagerjaques! And I'm older than your grandfather old man!"

"I think you are being a little exaggerated. I understand that hollows age more slowly than humans, but my grandfather lived to be three hundred and two. I guess you would be about one hundred and twenty." **(I bs-ed this.) ****  
**

"That's funny. Both Ulqui and I are over a thousand years old. There are others back home that are twice our age."

"Well, it appears I was mistaken."

"Damn right you were. This entire meeting had been a waste of my time. I could'a been back in my rooms, cuddling with Ulqui after I dragged him away from the lady Professor."

"Then I won't keep you any further. Perhaps Ulqui will be more willing to share some information with me. He seems like a nice boy."

"Don't you call him that! Only I can call him Ulqui! And don't you dare drag him into your boring as fuck office and try to make him talk. I will find you and devour your soul! Heh. That is, if Ulquiorra doesn't do that first."

" I think we're both a tad bit too tired for this right now. Goodnight Mr. Jeagerjaques."

With that, Grimmjow was ejected from the office by an unseen force of magic. He stood their stunned for a bit before storming off down the hallway to track down his mate. He came upon Ulquiorra in the Ancient Runes tower, drawing a runic array under Professor Vector's watchful eye. The runes were inscribed in a chalk circle on a thick wooden board. As Ulquiorra finished drawing the last symbol with the brush, the circle glowed a soft white color and the runes sunk into the wood, signifying the array was valid. It was a harmless set of runes, meant only to provide a better understanding of the symbols without the risk of unwanted effects, seeing as how Ulqui was just a beginner at Ancient Runes. Professor Vector seemed very excited. The new addition to the castle had a lot of talent with the delicate art of inscribing runes. Grimmjow couldn't for the life of him figure out what was so interesting about a few weird symbols drawn on a circle made of chalk. The array hadn't even done anything. for crying out loud! Maybe it was just the exhaustion of the day that made him crabby, but Grimmjow was ready to go back to his rooms and go to sleep, preferably holding Ulqui. With a frosty goodbye to the Professor, Grimmjow dragged Ulquiorra out of the Ancient Runes tower before his shorter mate could have a chance to say a thing to the young woman.

* * *

The rest of the first semester passed without anything interesting going on. The students gradually got used to the constant presence of the two Espada. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra continued to sit in on Hagrid's Magical Creatures class and went to visit him for tea every week or so. The half- giant certainly made better tea than Aizen, although his grey rock cakes were a little hard on the teeth. The arrancar learned this the hard way when Grimmjow was sent to Madame Pomfrey with a severely splintered tooth. The medi-witch was more than disgruntled that her good night's sleep had been interrupted, proving herself worthy of the title "Dragon of the Medical Ward". Needless to say, the Espada avoided the thick grey cakes from then on.

Christmas break came far too slowly for the Espada, who were drowning in boredom by the end of November. Grimmjow had talked to all the paintings that could be found throughout the entire castle extensively. Ulquiorra was growing tired of the incessant talking and gossiping of all the students in the library and the constant suspicion directed at him whenever he pulled a book from the Restricted section. So it was a welcome relief for them when the castle was all but empty, most of the students having gone home for the holidays to be with their family. Only the Potter boy and a handful of Ravenclaws and Slytherins remained. Even with most of her students gone, Hogwarts took it upon herself to decorate the Great Hall in traditional, sumptuous fashion. A gargantuan noble fir stood in the corner of the magnificently decked out hall, laden with fine handmade ornaments and shining tinsel. The normal house banners were replaced by large strips of heavy velvet displaying the Hogwarts crest. Wreaths hung all around the halls and the portraits temporarily wore Santa hats. The four long tables traditionally present in the dining hall were replaced with one large, circular table with individual seats. The Head Table was absent from its raised dais as well. Gifts were placed under the giant tree, meant to be opened the morning of December twenty fifth.

Currently, it was breakfast and all the living inhabitants of Hogwarts were gathered in the Hall to enjoy a hearty meal. Two chairs were unoccupied, however, seeing as how the Espada were technically not alive. They were sleeping in, having no need to eat tangible food. Food was reserved only for the pleasure of eating, not for sustenance anymore. When they finally made their way down from their lavish chambers, breakfast was in full swing. Only this time, the fare was decidedly more Yuletide based and less artery destroying than it usually was. Ulquiorra was pleased to see a wide variety of fruits sitting on platters near his plate. There was oatmeal as well as french toast. Grimmjow scanned the feast laid out before him until he found the plate of eggs and sausages. They seemed less greasy than normal. They settled in to eat and the morning was soon transitioning into the afternoon. Students left to enjoy their break and the staff returned to their chambers to grade exams or relax. The arrancar were about to leave when they noticed Harry was still sitting at the table, despite in being bare. He looked forlorn, a mere shadow of the fiery, feisty teenager they had seen when school was in session. Grimmjow gave Ulquiorra a look that said "You handle this. I might kill the kid if I talk to him" and left, presumably to walk outside. Ulquiorra did not even have a chance to protest before he was gone. With a sigh, he walked over to the sagging boy, his hands in his large sleeves the entire way.

* * *

Harry sensed a presence move next to him though he didn't see Ulquiorra, his eyes being drilled into the polished wood of the table the entire time. He hadn't eaten much at breakfast. The holiday season was never a cheerful time for him, having no family to spend it with. Despite all the airs he put on during the semester were just masks made to hide the sad little boy inside. Normally, he was fine acting as someone he wasn't, having done it for most of his life. It was second nature to him. But there was something about the holidays that brought the pain bubbling back to the surface. Maybe it was the fact that his friends all left him without a second thought, to go spend time with their real families. Because Harry knew, that no matter what they said, he would always be far less important to them than their family. Family came first. Harry had always wished for a real family, since he was little. People to love him, cherish him, and protect him. Sure the Weasleys tried to make him feel accepted, but he knew that was all fake. They were doing it for the war efforts.

A cold hand coming down on his shoulder startled Harry out of his miserable reverie. He looked up to find Ulquiorra sitting in the chair next to him with a cup of tea in his hands. It was leftover from breakfast, but steam was still rising from it. Harry wordlessly accepted the cup and was surprised to find green tea inside instead of English black. It was a frivolous thing, but Harry's mind registered it nonetheless.

"I suppose you're going to mock me now. Go ahead. I won't fight back," he said bitterly. Harry was feeling empty and his apathetic voice showed it. Had he been looking up, Harry would have seen Ulquiorra's eyes droop in familiarity.

"On the contrary. You should be happy. It is my understanding that this time of year is to be spent in happiness, consuming the sweet biscuits and laughing with friends. Why do you sit here in depression? I think the other students will be willing to put aside their differences for a few weeks. Why do you not join them in frolicking in the snow?" Ulquiorra replied. He was not exactly experienced in the field of comforting others.

"Please Mr. Cifer. I have absolutely no delusions that I will be welcome in their activities. No. Ever since first year, my holidays have been spent alone in the common rooms with a large mug of cocoa. Sure the headmaster and my friends send me presents at Christmas, but its never been a happy time of year for me. First at the Dursleys and now at Hogwarts. Don't you have to spend time with your own family? I heard Mr. Jeagerjaques talking to Dumbledore about how you two were going to Hogsmeade to visit with your friends," Harry said dejectedly.

Ulquiorra was a loss for what to say. In all his thousands of years of life, he had never encountered this situation before. He had survived intense battles with the shinigami and lived as the Cuarta Espada for over a millennium, but never had Ulquiorra had to actually make someone feel better.

"I suppose so. But have you ever thought that others are in even more deplorable positions than yourself? You know I am a warrior before a nursemaid, but a very insightful opponent of mine once opened my eyes to what many have forgotten. He believed in forging forward no matter the obstacle that placed itself in his way and even when he lay dying from a cero, he still tried to change things for the better. He was a boy whose mother was killed protecting him and his sisters from a hollow attack. He died in a way very similar to your own mother. His father is still alive, but is a pariah in the Soul Society, having given up his powers in a final attack to delay the demise of his world. He tries very hard to keep his wife's memory with him, but his enthusiasm is very often unappreciated. When I was sent to observe their family for a short amount of time, I noticed that his own children will often belittle him, using terms they would not even dare utter in front of their most irksome nemesis. Yet, while I was there, I had the opportunity to observe the holidays at the Kurosaki household. The man, Isshin, was very much like you are now. He shed the happy facade for a moment and I saw the forlorn, lonely man beneath. His children had all left for their friend's houses for Christmas, not wanting to spend time with their supposedly insane father. He sat in front of the window in his home for quite a while before he saw a group of impoverished people spending their holidays together. They were clad in rags and unshod. One of the children was suffering from a bad case of fever and the family was too poor to even feed themselves, let alone afford medical care. Isshin watched them interact for a while, marveling at how content they were with each other. When they passed by his house, he ushered them inside his clinic and treated the child. He gave them the antibiotics they needed and fed them the dinner originally meant for his kids. They were so grateful it lifted his spirits. Isshin Kurosaki ended up spending his Christmas with a family of homeless denigrates. They did not exactly have the best circumstances, they made friends with each other," Ulquiorra finished his lengthy explanation.

"I don't see how this will make me feel better about being alone for Christmas."

"Even now, Isshin Kurosaki invites that family over for dinner on Christmas when his children leave him without fail. His family situation has not gotten much better but he seems much happier. I checked in on him a few years before his human death and saw he was still enjoying Christmas dinner with the children of that poor family. He was laughing and truly enjoyed himself."

"What I am saying is that you have had the chance to make lasting friendships with the other students during this time when your friends and fans are not here to influence your decision. It is your last year at this school. Make your last holidays here the best in your school career. I do not know if what I have said will help or not, but please try it out."

With that, Ulquiorra left with a gentle swish of his clothes and Harry was left alone with his thoughts.

_Was he being that pitiful that a being older than the castle would have to step in? _

Harry was quite indignant at that shorter arrancar. He downed the now cold tea with a determined grimace and stood from his seat. Harry came upon the other students sitting in the library. They were all there, but seated at different tables. The Slytherins were grouped together in the corner of the library, the Claws in the center most table and the straggling students were wandering about. Harry went over to the Ravenclaw gathering and sat down in their available chair. At first they didn't notice him, too immersed in their reading to see the Savior's approach, but Harry gently pulled the thick tomes away from them. He ignored their affronted gazes and struck up a conversation. The two opened up easily enough and soon found themselves laughing along with the Gryffindor.

The sounds of the byproduct of joy and merriment drew the other students from the other parts of Hogwarts' extensive library to the center table. They dragged more chairs from surrounding tables and joined in, even the icy Slytherins bantered with the rest.

As he was truly enjoying himself during the holidays for what was possibly the first time in all his seventeen years, Harry silently thanked Ulquiorra. Maybe he and Mr. Jeagerjaques weren't as bad as Ron made them out to be...

* * *

**A.N. This is a brief intermission. That was my little bit of obligatory Christmas writing. As you can probably tell, I can't write the heartwarming Yuletide fluff. It was disgusting to read over I bet.**

* * *

The year passed quickly after that. Before everyone knew it, it was the end of the year and Voldemort still had not made a move. The Espada were getting wary. The three down at Hogsmeade informed Grimmjow and Ulquiorra that there had been no Death Eater attacks on the vulnerable village. They let the fact fester and ferment in the back of their minds until the last month of school rolled around.

Both the Dark and Light sides still hadn't moved from their unofficial ceasefire. Many students were using this brief time of peace to enjoy themselves, going in excursions with friends. However, those who experienced war before knew it was the calm that preceded the storm of the century. The Order was secretly making preparations for an all out battle royale. They had no doubt Voldemort was gathering his Death Eaters for the same purpose. At that point, all of the members were used to seeing the Espada ghosting around the halls of the castle. After that first day, the pair never sat in on any classes beside Care of Magical Creatures.

It was the Monday before the graduation ceremony. Dumbledore's overly exalted Order of the Phoenix was meeting at Number 12 Grimmauld Place to finalize their strategies for the final battle. Their oh so wise leader deduced Voldemort would attack on the day of the graduation, when all the students would be in one place and too drunk off their euphoria to react quickly. That was, of course, the only route the Dark Lord could have taken. It just went to show you how absolutely mindless the members of the Order were. They just followed behind their precious Light Lord without a shred of common sense. Grimmjow had remarked once that he could lead them off a cliff and they wouldn't hesitate to follow.

"Why can't we tell the boy? He is much too valuable to the cause to be lost in some foolish act of idiotic heroism." Mad-Eye Moody said.

"It's not like we can just tell him the truth! Harry won't take kindly to knowing that we plan on sacrificing him to save our own hides. That boy is powerful. If we tell him, Merlin knows he'll find a way out of it and end up surviving. We can't risk another Voldemort. The prophecy specifically states that one has to die. Neither can live while the other remains. It's best to keep him in the dark about our plans. It will make both his passing and the guilt more bearable." Dumbledore replied. Everything was falling into place exactly as he planned. The Potter brat would fail in the final battle and he, Albus Dumbledore, would swoop in to save the dying boy. He would heroically kill Voldemort and return with the boy's dead body under the perfect guise of a grieving old man. The wizarding world would worship him once again and he would remain at the top of the political chain.

"Bah! Who needs that useless brat? I say we can take on You-Know-Who by ourselves. If we get those two delegates to help, winning should be a piece of cake. They'll help us with their freaky powers when we tell them Voldemort will invade their country next and we can just throw them into Azkaban on the grounds of being Death Eaters. No one will believe a stupid foreigner's word against that of the Order, so our tracks are covered. It works even better that that short little slut looks like a Dark Wizard already. Maybe we'll drain their power for ourselves." Ron sneered in arrogance at the thought of the two arrancar.

"Why Ronald, that is a splendid idea! I knew you were a true Light wizard the moment you walked through the doors of the Hall. Your plan shall be implemented immediately. Someone contact the two Espada staying at the castle and summon them to the headquarters."

A dark, monotonous voice floated from the shadowy recesses of the darkened kitchen, chilling everyone to the core with its emptiness.

"There is no need Headmaster. We have already arrived." Ulquiorra said. He stepped out of the shadows with Grimmjow right next to him. The two made quite an intimidating sight.

Grimmjow had taken the liberty of dressing in his darkest attire. He wore a thick black trench coat with shiny silver chains hanging off of it and tattered hems. It was left unbuttoned and he wore nothing underneath, exposing his rippling chest muscles and the impressive scar on his stomach. Grimmjow wore black leather gloves with the fingers cut off on his hands and brass knuckles under them. Baggy black cargo pants clothed his powerful thighs and chunky combat boots shod his feet. Pantera was in its sheath at his hip and his mask was attached to the side of his jaw, for extra effect. The Order members were horrified when they saw what appeared to be a chunk of a jaw bone on his face. Ulquiorra had chosen a decidedly more Oriental approach to his battle gear. He wore skin tight shinobi pants tucked into his Espada uniform shoes. His torso was clad in a tight black shirt with the forearms wrapped in black silk and steel vambraces. A sleeveless tunic covered his lithe frame down to his slim ankles. The front was split into two panels forming a deep v-neck with the point ending at the wide leather belt he wore. The back was one piece until it reached the belt, then it split as well. His hair was left loose to flow free over his shoulders and Murcielago was slung over his shoulder. The horned mask was in its place on his head.

"Ah. Mr. Cifer and Mr. Jeagerjaques. How long have you been standing there?" Dumbledore asked. He was worried they heard of the Order's plans.

"We intended to visit the Order of the Phoenix in its headquarters, seeing as how it is nearing the end of our time in this country, to discuss the conditions of our aid but it seems we walked in on something important. Perhaps another time would be more convenient? Or do you have this war under control?" Ulquiorra replied.

"Oh heavens no! We need all the help we can get. It would be an honor to have you fighting alongside us. Maybe you could call in some of your comrades from Japan. You see, there is this prophecy about our dear Harry Potter. It says he is the one destined to kill the Dark Lord that is terrorizing wizarding Britain, but he has to die to do it. Voldemort split his soul into seven parts and hid the fragments in items called Horcruxes. We thought young Harry and his friends had destroyed them all, but it seems one remains inside the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. To get rid of it and bring Voldemort back into the grasp of mortality, we need to end Harry's life. However, with him gone, the Light side will lose a significant portion of its fire power. I am an extremely powerful wizard myself, but these bones are too weak to last me long in the final battle. I'm sure it will bring Japan great honor to be the country that helped rid the world of the greatest evil it has ever seen. So, will you help us?" Dumbledore made his speech. He read up on these creatures and knew they were proud beings that held honor in the highest regard. They also devoured souls like a Dementor would, making them inexcusable dark creatures, but he would wait until they served their purpose to kill them and bring more fame to himself.

"You want us to fight in the final battle with you because you'll be missing a lot of power when you kill that kid to make this Voldemort guy immortal?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yes. We shall even let you feast on the souls of the Death Eaters when we win."

"What do you mean 'feast on the souls'?" Ron blurted out.

"You see Ronald, our two guests eat the souls of mortals for sustenance. They are very closely related to our own Dementors." Dumbledore said.

"Bloody hell! These guys are monsters! They're even worse than I thought. What kind of sick and twisted creature eats people's souls for food? I'll tell you what. Only Dark creatures that only Voldemort would hire. They don't have wands, can't use magic, and aren't even human! They don't even come from England! We'll be fine without their help. We'd probably be better off taking their powers now and using them to kill the Dark Lord. Filthy Death Eaters is all they are." At this statement, Ron whipped out his wand and pointed it at the two Espada still standing in the corner of the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"They're like Dementors right? So we can drive them off with the Patronus spell. The shorter one over there looks like he hates happiness anyway. Why don't we just force them to do what we say and threaten them with a Patronus? We can kill them later." Sirius suggested.

"Sirius! They are still here! They'll hear us." Molly admonished.

"Calm down Molly. They probably don't understand us anyway."

"They speak English! You blundering fool! You've just ruined all our chances of any help from Japan!" Dumbledore said.

Like the rest of the visit, the wizards underestimated the cunning and guile of the two Espada. A quick glance at one another confirmed their plan of action and the hollows stepped forward.

"Now wait just a second. Who says we won't help you? Do know how boring it is here without anything to fight? It's terrible. We'll help you kill old Voldy and hunt down his Death Eaters. In return, you guys let us be and don't try to kill us." Grimmjow said, plastering an unassuming grin on his face for good measure. Bait cast.

"Indeed. We have been feeling very restless. Sparring with each other gets boring very quickly." Ulquiorra said.

"Well, in that case, welcome to the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore said. Maybe the war would turn out in his favor after all. These two creatures were more stupid than he thought. Little did he know, the two Espada were having the exact same thoughts about the Order. It was turning into a battle of tactical prowess right under his nose. "We like to have all members living in the headquarters for convenience sake, so you two will share the extra room next to Harry's. It's up the stairs, fourth door to the left. Now, the meeting is almost over anyway and we shall be turning in soon so there is no reason to keep you up later that necessary. You'll be filled in on your duties tomorrow morning at breakfast. Have a pleasant evening m'boys." Bait accepted.

The two Espada, knowing that they had Dumbledore in the right place for the moment, silently ascended the stairs to their room and pretended not to notice the silencing wards placed around their door by the Headmaster.

"Che. These guys are idiots. They can't even tell their so called leader is planning to take all the glory for the battle for himself. They went through this once already right? Shouldn't they have noticed the old man is lying by now?" Grimmjow was pissed. It had been all he could do to keep the facade up and not break into an impulsive rage.

"They are truly stupid. It has been centuries since I have met people like that. They represent everything that is wrong with the world in this timeline. Everything is about personal gain and fame, even in the midst of a war where thousands have already died. Trash." Ulquiorra spat scornfully.

Ulquiorra knew that the Order was discussing the same thing about them downstairs, and he didn't care. He also knew that Dumbledore was telling his blindly loyal followers a pathetic sob story about how Dark they were and how many innocent souls they devoured. Espada didn't even need to eat souls anymore. The way the Order members obeyed Dumbledore without question reminded him too much of the days when he was Aizen's pet arrancar. Those days still haunted him centuries after the madman's death at Ichigo Kurosaki's hand.

Grimmjow noticed that Ulquiorra's eyes went dull, the way they always did when he was remembering the Aizen days. He crossed the small room with a few long strides and pulled Ulquiorra into a warm embrace full of love and acceptance. Ulquiorra said nothing, standing stiffly in his mate's arms. He didn't even register that Grimmjow was there, so deep in the memories he was. But, Grimmjow was more patient than he was given credit for and he waited. He waited until Ulquiorra regained control of his mind and blocked out the flashbacks. And he waited until his smaller mate recognized him. Ulquiorra practically threw himself into Grimmjow's arms, seeking comfort after the cold venture into his past and was grateful when strong arms wrapped tightly around his frame. Grimmjow stood their and took on the role of Ulquiorra's support pillar as he had a miniature breakdown. When Ulqui's soft whimpers faded into silence, Grimmjow scooped up his lightweight mate and made his way to the provided bed. It was not made and was obviously occupied by a complete slob before them. Grimmjow gave a snort of disgust at the wizards' neglect and kicked the comforter off the bed with his foot. He hooked his toe under the bed sheet and yanked that off as well. Only when the mattress was bare did he set his mate down on it. Ulquiorra was still as stone as he allowed his mate to take care of him. He knew he should have recovered faster, but the entire stay in the wizarding world left him exhausted, both mentally and emotionally. That single year with the magic users had brought up more flashbacks of his past than the entire century after the war ended. Not bothering to shed his clothes, Grimmjow climbed into bed behind Ulquiorra and pulled him close. The Sexta Espada spooned the Cuarto's tiny frame to his chest and made sure he was safe before falling asleep.

* * *

Ulquiorra woke up to the sunlight streaming through the threadbare curtains and onto his face. When he opened his poison green orbs, the Fourth Espada was met with the sight of the painfully sub-par room. In the light of day, the room was even more offensive than in darkness. It seemed every surface was covered in at least an inch of dust and there were cracks in the plaster of the wall. The parts that weren't covered with loud floral wallpaper, anyway. His sharp eyes located at least seven rotting floorboards and a cracked door. The bed itself was completely devoid of any posts and the sheets were gone. presumably cleared by the dour house elf the two had encountered the previous night. Ulquiorra felt the hard chest of his mate pressing up against his back and allowed himself a soft, affectionate smile. The arrancar turned to face his dominant mate and cuddled into his neck. Grimmjow only grunted and pulled the warm body closer, pulling a giggle from Ulquiorra's bi-colored lips. The two lay there in absolute contentment, despite the awful housing, each enjoying the other's presence. Their small moment of peace was shattered when they heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. Ulquiorra sighed while Grimmjow growled. The Espada reluctantly got out of bed and changed their clothing before heading down to the kitchen. Dumbledore and the Aurors were gone, thank all that was holy, but the three brats were sitting at the table. Ron was stuffing his face with greasy sausage, not paying any heed to the disgusted glares sent his way. Hermoine was sitting at the table with a tome the size of her head open in front of her, occasionally blowing the copious amounts of dust onto everyone else's plates. Harry was sitting placidly, staring at his plate, while Molly berated him for eating like a bird. The rest of the Weasleys were behaving normally, which was counted as a minor miracle.

The two Espada stood awkwardly in the doorway until Ron looked up from his empty plate to get more food and noticed them.

"Mum. The two creatures are awake. Feed them or something," He said. Ulquiorra's eye twitched at the display of uncouth behavior.

"Ronald! I am your mother and I will not have my son speak to me that way!"

"Whatever. Can you get me some more breakfast?"

Molly huffed in indignation but moved to bring more plates of food out to the table. The arrancar silently took the empty seats and began to help themselves. Hermoine finally pulled her dusty nose out of the tome and stared at the Espada.

"You can eat human food? Doesn't it just sit in your stomach with nowhere to go? You know, since you two eat souls and all. Or do you both throw it up afterwards? Don't worry, you don't have to eat if you don't want to." Her voice was inquisitive at first, but descended into a condescending cant by the end of her dialogue.

"Ms. Granger, you have seen us eat human food for the entire school term. We even followed you to your first period class on more than one occasion. When could we have thrown anything up. Our bodies are perfectly capable of digesting mortal food and we no longer have the need to devour souls. Eating is more for pleasure and the sake of fitting in now than anything." Ulquiorra replied coolly as he placed a mushroom in his mouth. He found he quite liked the dish.

"But how does your body obtain the nutrients it needs to function? You'd die if you didn't eat." Granger said matter-of-factly.

"In case you missed the many times when the Headmaster explained it, we are not human. We do not require the nutrients and vitamins found in food to survive and we have reached the last evolution stage, making it so we do not need to eat souls anymore. As of this stage in our lives, we can obtain energy through the spirit particles in the air. It seems you magical human release quite a bit into the atmosphere."

"And just in case you get a little too big for your sparkly britches, we can still tear out your soul and crush it like an ant. It wouldn't be too hard. You wizards have no defenses over your soul to speak of. No reiatsu either." Grimmjow cut in from where he was nursing his cup of tea. It wasn't as good as green tea, but it wasn't garbage either.

"Why you! We're wizards! You're just filthy Dark creatures. You eat souls like a Dementor, but we have a Patronus spell to drive you away! We're always one step ahead of you dumb beasts. Just because Dumbledore is letting you help us in the war doesn't make you our equals. We're still your superiors. So you better start being more respectful to your betters before I have Harry here hit you with his Patronus. Surely you must have heard stories about how our savior drove away hundreds of Dementors when he was just a kid? Well, he's even more powerful now." Sirius said.

"Why would we be scared of your little spells?" Ulquiorra's deadpan was heard painfully clearly.

"This is exactly the insubordination that we wizards have to deal with. You bloody dark creatures thinking you can walk all over us. Especially you, emo boy. You better get yourself in line before I leave you in a world of pain. Every member of the Order can cast a fully corporeal Patronus, so you had better be more obedient."

"You have done nothing to warrant my obedience to you, trash." Ulquiorra set his fork on the table and fixed Sirius with a glare that could have cut through diamond.

"You impudent brat! I am Lord of the House of Black and I will have respect! Lords of wizarding houses are even higher above disgusting beasts like you so you better apologize."

"Wait Sirius. I don't want to see him apologize. This little whore humiliated me in Diagon Alley. He needs to get on his knees and bow like the Death Eater whore he is. And while he's at it, he has to call all of us 'Master' from now on. The only place he belongs is on his knees, like a proper bitch." Ron Weasley was particularly malicious in his suggestion.

Ulquiorra was silent as he watched the wizards make their cruel statements. They were only digging themselves a bigger grave. If not for the fact that he and Grimmjow needed to keep up their ruse, Ulquiorra would have cero'ed them all into oblivion from the moment the redhead opened his mouth. He turned poisonous green eyes on the two wizards, a clear aura of disdain around his body.

"No"

Sirius was outraged. The filthy creatures didn't think he would hurt them. Well, he would fix that right now. Sirius stomped up to the smaller Espada, his arm raised and a stormy look on his face. He swung his arm down with as much force as he could, intending on striking Ulquiorra across the face to teach him a lesson. Ron and Hermoine watched in absolute glee. Ulquiorra stuck his hand up and caught Sirius' arm long before it could get near his face. In one smooth movement, the Cuarta Espada stood and twisted the wizard's arm behind his back. Despite his small frame, Ulquiorra easily shoved Sirius against the wall and ground his face into the stucco. When he was let go of, Sirius spun around, intending to Patronus the stupid creature, but was faced with three feet of steel in his face. Ulquiorra had unsheathed his Zanpakuto and had the sharp edge pushed up against the wizard's unprotected neck. He could hear Murcielago singing for blood and had a hard time resisting her urges. The wizards had driven him to have to draw his blade.

"Do not think that you are worthy enough of an opponent for me to draw my blade, trash. This is merely so you get it past your incredibly thick skulls that we are not dumb beasts and I am not one of your flirt gills." Ulquiorra said.

Sirius could feel the cold metal biting into the thin skin of his neck, right over his jugular vein. Ulquiorra only needed to flick his wrist and Sirius' blood would splatter on the walls. The wizard hardly even felt it when the steel peeled away a layer of his skin, leaving a pink, raw patch behind. Ulquiorra brought Murcielago up to his face and examined the pasty strip of skin stuck to the blade. He peeled it off his complaining zanpakuto with his thumb and index finger, not willing to touch it more than necessary. The skin was ridiculously fragile, nearly disintegrating with a touch, a sign of malnutrition and dehydration. The wizard was no threat. Ulquiorra walked over to the window and simply threw the patch of skin out of it, ignoring the indignant splutters of the wizard holding his neck. Sirius was bewildered that a dark creature would dare draw its sword on him. Ron and Hermoine were urging Harry to cast his Patronus. The Boy Who Lived was reluctant, but eventually caved under the will of his "friends", like usual. When Ulquiorra came back to stand with Grimmjow, the Espada were met with a rush of silvery mist in the shape of a stag charging at them. The Patronus enveloped the two arrancar and the wizards laughed in contempt. Such stupid creatures didn't even realize what a Patronus was.

Inside the silver mist, the two Espada were feeling no pain. Aside from the fact that Ulquiorra was put off by all the insanely happy thoughts flooding his system, being the former Espada of emptiness and all, they were fine. Grimmjow was growing more irritated every second that the mist surrounded him. His hand was on Pantera's hilt and gripping with white knuckles. When the memories didn't stop, the Sexta Espada cracked and drew his blade. The mist was dispelled with one wide slash, revealing a very irritated panther and a bat hollow standing unharmed. The wizards were baffled and stopped their laughing. The Espada were not affected by the Patronus charm at all. They were still standing as if it had done nothing. The Patronus, cast by Harry Potter himself, had done no harm to the arrancar. In fact, it seemed to have only enraged the blue haired one even more. He blade had banished the mist with no trouble at all and was currently pointed at Harry's heart. The boy's friends were standing in front of him with their wands out, protecting their only line to fame and fortune. Ulquiorra, who had been present when Aizen had made all his interlocking plans, could see through their shallow acting with ease. They only wanted to know the Potter boy for the money he would inherit. From the gleam in the redhead's eyes, he could see that Harry would be tricked into marrying Ginny and having kids with her. The look in Sirius' eyes told the short arrancar that a little "accident" would be arranged for Harry shortly after the final battle, leaving Ginny the "broken hearted widow". She would then inherit all his money and share it with the rest of her conspirators. It was a rather transparent plan compared to Aizen's, thus making it as clear as day to the Espada. Ulquiorra walked up to where Grimmjow was about to run Pantera through all the Wizards' hearts and slowly pulled his mate's arm down.

"Let us go, Grimmjow. These trash will be of no use to the war if they are dead. We should leave and wait for the final battle."

"Che. Fine. But just so you little weaklings know, I'm only leaving because Ulqui wants to." With that, the two Espada sonido'd out of the house and back to the house in Hogsmeade.

The wizards grumbled but said nothing about it, having been on the receiving end of the blue haired one's sword. Harry was still in shock that his Patronus did nothing. Sirius was still clutching the wound on his neck. It was shallow, but would leave a highly visible scar. Hermoine and Ron were seething at the fact that they were shown up by a pair of dark creatures. Dumbledore would not be happy.

In the little cottage in Hogsmeade, the sounds of yelling, crashing, and shrieks of terror could be heard. Torrents of icy water appeared to spout from the chimney of the house, seeming to come out of nowhere. Maniacal cackles could be heard before a particularly loud clang and moans of pain followed after. The Espada house was in a total disarray. All the tables were either broken in half or shattered into splinters. Everything was soaking wet and dripping onto the scorched wooden floors. Ulquiorra stepped around a particularly large scorch mark that was obviously made by a cero. The pair found Harribel in the kitchen, lightly caressing Tiburon and murmuring to herself. The boys were nowhere to be seen. It was fairly obvious what had happened. Grimmjow saw the look in the Tercera's eyes and wisely backed off. Ulquiorra followed suit. They found Szayel and Nnoitra in the bathtub, wrapped around each other and cowering, zanpakuto nowhere to be seen. When asked what was wrong, they only wailed in terror and started mumbling about angry sharks and drowning. Grimmjow took the initiative and hauled the blubbering pair to their feet before dragging them down to the kitchen. He sat them down on whatever chairs Ulquiorra could salvage and claimed a stool for himself. Ulquiorra, meanwhile, gently removed Tiburon from Harribel's undoubtedly very capable hands and slowly guided her to an armchair. She seemed calm enough, at least able to resist the urge to castrate the boys for whatever they did. Ulquiorra perched on the counter top and the reports began.

It was discovered that the reason for Harribel's watery rampage was Nnoitra whispering indecent things about her fraccion at breakfast. She had been beating him to kingdom come when Szayel walked in and made the mistake of trying to deprive an angry shark of her prey. Tiburon was released, all too eager to cause carnage and all hell broke loose in the Espada house. The Aurors had been called, but they were promptly silenced by the sight of a scantily clad woman answering the door. One of them had had the gall to imply that Harribel was a loose woman, but was quickly relieved of his thoughts by the gargantuan sword she was holding. The wizards had left very quickly after that, the sound of Apparition further irritating the shark queen. Cascada was used and destruction worthy of Grimmjow's standards was caused. She had washed both Fornicaras and Santa Teresa away in her flood and both swords were currently sitting on the roof, stuck in a block of ice. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were silent as the Tercera spoke, not wanting to evoke another rampage.

When it came time for the Sexta and Cuarta to tell their tale, Grimmjow could feel himself growing angrier with every word he spoke. Ulquiorra eventually took over, telling the part about Grimmauld Place while Grimmjow went outside to stand on the air and release ceros at the clouds. The blue-haired arrancar returned to his seat right as the Patronus part came up and resumed sulking in irritation. When Ulquiorra finished up the recounting of their experiences, there were reactions all over the trio. Nnoitra was itching to face Death Eaters in the final battle and really use his power. Szayel was contemplating borderline inhumane experiments and tests on the wizards with a suspiciously innocent look on his face that everyone knew all to well. Harribel was back to her noncommittal silence, which really could mean anything from "I wanna go kick some ass" to "You are all stupid and I'm staying home". So, it was agreed that all five Espada would lend their swords to the final battle for the sake of killing more wizards and getting some adrenaline flowing after a year of being idle. The Death Eaters would be dead before they even realized what they were fighting.

* * *

The day of the final battle came and every Light wizard was looking grim. It seemed the final stand was going to be made in front of Hogwarts' gates. Men, woman, old Grindlewald war veterans, young students were standing behind Albus Dumbledore. Every living being who was not with Voldemort was given a wand and told to fight, no matter their situation, so desperate was the Order. Children who were not even old enough to understand what a wand was were given one and placed on the front lines to be used as cannon fodder. They all thought it was a fun game and ran around before the battle, waving their wands around. Since they were so young, a wand hadn't been made to fit them yet, to they really couldn't defend themselves in any way. Behind the children stood the Order of the Phoenix. Their robes were colored to look like phoenix plumage and Fawkes circled high overhead, his song lifting spirits and aiding prayers for mercy. Every Order member was present, even Severus Snape, who had been discovered to be a spy for Dumbledore and blinded. Albus himself stood behind a wall of Aurors, wearing his usual gaudy robes and holding the Elder wand aloft for all to see. Many believed that he would protect them with the same wand hand that vanquished Grindlewald.

Harry Potter stood behind his own guard of Aurors. He was tense and his eyes resigned. He knew that many innocents would die on the battlefield, more children amongst the dead than adults. So many people were relying on him to defeat Voldemort and save the world. Many people even walked onto the battlefield with revised versions of their wills, leaving everything to the Boy-Who-Lived should they die. Fawkes was able to cheer him up a bit, give him a little hope,but that quickly disappeared when the Death Eaters arrived. Harry smiled ruefully, Ulquiorra was right in his belief. Hope only made tragedy even more devastating when reality came back into focus. The Death Eaters were like an ominous cloud tearing up the grass in front of them as they headed for the Light wizards. The Dark outnumbered the Light three to one, a near hopeless statistic. Then Dumbledore lifted his wand and let out a thundering cannon blast, and the Light side surged forward. When the two armies got within a hundred yards of each other, curses began to fly. The Light side used just as many Unforgivables as the Dark. People were dying left and right, some with loud cries of agony as they tripped and were trampled and others with the eerie silence of the Killing Curse. As predicted, all the children were the first to die, although many were given the painless death of the Killing Curse from the surprisingly compassionate Death Eaters on the front lines. Some were even Apparated to safety by none other than Fenrir Greyback, who had lost many innocent members of his pack in the war. Werewolves from the Dark Army soon joined the fray and gore started to fly. The vampires were waiting for the sun to set before they would start to fight. Fawkes did all he could, flying past the wolves to frighten them off and rousing the Light's morale with his trills.

Ron and Hermoine were fighting side by side, taking down one Dark wizard after another and screaming insults the entire way. They were admittedly good duelists and knew the ways of way very well, thought they got caught up in the fight too much and began to waste energy. Snape, having had his eyes gouged out, was among the first major casualties. He fell when a wayward cutting curse bifurcated his body down the center. The Order was doing the most damage to the enemy, slinging curses they found in the Black family library. They killed left and right, constantly watching to make sure their main weapon was still alive. Harry was doing a fine job of taking down his enemies, though he avoided killing where he could and crippled them instead. He was in no imminent danger.

For a while it seemed as if the Dark side was finished. The Light was sustaining less casualties now that the children were dead and the Dark wizards were falling by the dozens. Then Voldemort and his Inner Circle joined the fight. They had been watching from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, waiting for the exact moment when the Light began to relax. Bellatrix threw herself into the fray, throwing every twisted Dark curse in her arsenal at the Order. The rest of the Inner Circle followed suit. Soon the Light was being pressed back, sustaining more and more deaths. The Weasley family was decimated, leaving Ron the only survivor. The twins' bodies had never been found. They had been eaten alive by a werewolf. Witnesses would later say that the valiant twins died with their eyes on each other and their mangled lips twisted into small smiles. Albus Dumbledore fought with renewed vigor, since it seemed that the demonic creatures weren't coming. Sirius was growling angrily. The stupid Dark creatures weren't here! Did they get the date wrong or something? With a determined scowl, Sirius steeled himself and fought harder.

* * *

Ron was holding his ground over Hermoine's unconscious body, shielding her from harm with the ferocity of a griffin. He was quickly tiring though, and eventually fell to his knees in exhaustion, fear and resignation clouding his eyes. He bowed his head to his inevitable death, mentally apologizing to Hermoine for not being strong enough, all previous arrogance gone. Just as Ron was sure he was about to see his grandparents, there was a low hum and the unmistakable sound of blood exiting a wound. Ron was sprayed with a gratuitous amount of the warm blood and wiped it out of his eyes in time to see a man with pink hair, dressed in white, slaying Death Eaters with astonishing ease. All the Light wizards looked around to see five distinct white blurs among the black sea of Death Eaters, cutting through the army like a speedboat through the placid waters of a lake. They could make out a man with blue hair, a man with pink, a woman with dark skin and blonde hair and two raven-haired figures. One of them was extremely tall and the other was tiny by comparison. The glint of swords could be seen, each one ringing a bell of death for up to five Dark Wizards at a time. In no time at all, the Espada had reduced the Dark army to just over half its original numbers. The woman suddenly appeared in front of Dumbledore.

"Keep your troops on top of the hill where it is safe. We have everything handled, so you can focus on healing the wounded and counting the dead." Her tone left no room for argument as she sped away.

Dumbledore gave the order for the Light army to fall back, but he was seething inside. This was not how it was supposed to go! Harry was supposed to die so Albus could kill Voldemort and become a hero again. He had even made it so his Order would drive off the demons. Nonetheless, he couldn't afford to be discovered and silently played the part of the injured old man, allowing a student to lead him up the hill while the gears in his mind turned.

From their vantage point on the hill, the surviving Light wizards could only stare in awe at the Espada as they decimated the enemy. They seemed to be able to move far faster than the eye could process, not even those of Mad-Eye Moody. Each one faced at least a hundred Death Eaters and came out alive each time. Spells did nothing to them, not even Killing Curses and Imperio. When the sun began to set, casting her orange rays across the battlefield, the vampires came out. The Dark army let out a cheer and the Light army gasped in horror. Voldemort hoped the vampires could match the incredible speed of these demonic creatures he failed to recruit and kill them quickly. While the Espada were matched in speed by the vampires on the ground, they were no match once the Resureccion began to come out. Szayel was the first to release his sword. He leaped into the air, seeming to stand on nothing while while heavy reiatsu began to gather around him. When the transformation was complete, Szayel stood above the Dark army with his traumatizing visage of a monster one would more likely encounter in a horror film. His cero tore through the flank of the Dark army. Nnoitra was next. He too stood on the air above the confused wizards before releasing Santa Teresa. He sprouted more arms and each one held a wickedly sharp scythe. Nnoitra didn't fire a cero, but returned to the ground to devastate the front lines of the Dark army. Harribel was the next to go, simply releasing Tiburon in the center of a hoard of Death Eaters, drowning a few in the process. She emerged from the onslaught of water in her highly revealing armor, carrying her enormous fin-shaped blade. The Tercera's Resureccion made many a nose bleed behind bone masks. Harribel stayed in the air as she drowned legions of wizards with her powers over water.

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were the last ones to release their swords, too caught up in their own battles to find the time. Finally, Szayel's cero ripped through the Death Eaters to their right, granting them an opening. Ulquiorra stopped first, jumping to stand on his platform of solidified spiritual energy. Grimmjow joined him when he was relieved of his fighting duties by Nnoitra and his many arms. The Sexta was itching to return to the fray so he released his blade first. Pantera was all too eager to respond to his master's call, forming Grimmjow's signature armor and claws. His Resureccion gave him greater speed and agility so Grimmjow returned to the ground to destroy the vampires. Ulquiorra released Murcielago last. She was quiet most of the time, but boosted his bloodlust with her own in battles. He was, after all, the bat hollow. This time, Ulquiorra skipped his first release state, going immediately into his second. his iron hard horns sprouted from his head and his powerful tail whipped at the air behind him. Ulquiorra grew enormous bat wings that churned the air into gusts of wind with each beat. Lanza del Relampago formed in his claws and was thrown into the center of the army, imploded, and took scores of wizards with it. Ulquiorra stayed in the air, providing aerial attacks to cover his comrades. His form was far better suited to the skies anyway.

The Espada fought with the ferocity of a thousand dragons and the power of a thousand more. They unleashed so much destruction on the enemy that, by the time the sun had fully set, only Voldemort and an eighth of his army remained. The two sides stood facing each other under the bright light of the stars and the moon, the Light army reduced to helpless spectators. Voldemort was resorting to cursing his own men as they started to escape. He was as fresh as when the battle first started, having waited behind his Inner Circle as they slayed enemies for him. He was really just a cowardly fool who did not wish to die. Even his name announced his lack of valor to the world. He had one of his most trusted Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange, apparate up the hill and snatch Harry Potter to use as a hostage, much to Albus' joy. Harry would be killed and he would get to save the day after banishing the demons with a Patronus charm. He was sure his phoenix Patronus would do the trick.

"Surrender now or Potter dies!" Bellatrix screeched.

Behind them, Grimmjow could hear the astonished gasps and worried cries of the Light army with his enhanced senses. He scoffed at them, so weak. The adrenaline from the fight was beginning to wear off and he could see past his screen of bloodlust induced red. The Death Eaters were getting desperate if they were trying to bargain with arrancar.

"Go ahead. It's not like we care if the brat dies. We just helped because you guys had more people to kill and we were bored." Came Nnoitra's reply.

"But he's your savior! Surely you must want him back alive?"

"Che. Lady, I don't know where you were this last hour, but we don't give a flying fuck about what happens to either side. We just want a fight."

With that, the Tercera sonido'd to the Death Eater holding Harry and removed him. The Death Eater's head went flying off not a second later. The rest of the Death Eaters used their port keys to get to safety, leaving Voldemort with only his most loyal standing between him and certain death. They were taken out easily enough with a few swings of Szayel's zanpakuto. The Light side cheered. A frigid glare from Harribel's icy green eyes shut them up. Grimmjow was about to rush forward and kill the Dark Lord when Albus Dumbledore appeared in the path of his charge. The old man was holding a long sword and Grimmjow's momentum made it impossible for him to stop. His hierro was thinned out to allot space for his armor, so he was vulnerable. He closed his eyes as he fell forward, the last thing he saw being Albus' smug grin. Grimmjow braced himself for the lancing pain that came with being stabbed, but it never came. Electric blue eyes opened to see black fur and bat wings in front of his face. Those same eyes traveled down the pale back to the bloody sword tip that was sticking out of Ulquiorra's stomach. The Cuarta Espada had used his great speed to get in the way of the sword blow, letting it puncture his torso instead of his mate's. Dumbledore twisted the blade, causing more internal damage and letting more black blood spill out of the wound. The Light army was confused at why their esteemed leader would kill the creatures that saved them from death.

Dumbledore was incredibly pleased with himself. He had been going for the panther like demon, but he ended up stabbing the obviously more powerful bat one instead. Now all he had to do was wait for the rest to surrender and kill Voldemort. What he was not expecting was for Ulquiorra to grab Gryffindor's sword and pull it out of his abdomen before casting it aside. Before the old man's eyes, the would began to close, the blood flow stemming and the flesh knitting itself back up. The damage to his internal organs had not been severe enough to hinder the Fourth Espada's instant regeneration. Ulquiorra looked at the old wizard with large, blank poison green eyes. This man no, this trash, had dared to try to stab Grimmjow. Ulquiorra stood to his full height, letting his wings stand straight and tall. He raised an eyebrow at the knotted wand that was pointed at him and did nothing. When a sickly grey spell shot from it, he dashed past the slow moving light and sliced the wand in half with his claws. The two useless halves fell to the blood-stained grass where they disintegrated. Ulquiorra stood as close to the terrified wizard as he could get and raised his index finger. An ominous black orb began forming and Grimmjow could be heard cursing explosively. The Cero Oscuras spun on the tip of Ulquiorra's claw with the whining sound of a powerful laser charging. The Cuarta was beyond angry to use the attack. He had only used it against Kurosaki Ichigo and never again afterwards. Ulquiorra's tail came up and grabbed Albus in a choke hold. The elderly wizard was held aloft as he was forced to watch the black laser completely obliterate the rest of the Dark army. Voldemort gave one blood- curdling screech before he was reduced to nothing. Albus' eyes widened when he saw his only chance at regaining his fame and glory disappear. Ulquiorra spun around and pointed another Cero Oscuras at the remaining wizards in the Light army. Albus seemed to understand, despite his desperate choking, and nodded. He was set down and left to pant for breath. Ulquiorra stood over him, revenge not completely obtained. The rest of the arrancar stood silently to the side. A hollow avenging on his mate's behalf was not to be interrupted. The one truly sacred thing in Hueco Mundo was the respect for mated pairs.

Albus was trembling as he was hauled to his feet. The winged demon raised a black fur covered arm and flexed his hand, causing the claws to extend. Albus only had a moment to try to beg for mercy before a burning pain greater than losing a limb tore through his entire frame. The elderly wizard looked down with the last of his rapidly escaping energy to see Ulquiorra's arm buried to the forearm in his chest. The Cuarta Espada twisted his arm in a macabre mockery of what the wizard had done to him before shoving his arm all the way through the man. His claws emerged out of Albus' back, severing his spinal cord completely. The limb was completely drenched with blood and chunks of mutilated flesh. Dumbledore was going through his death throes still impaled on the Espada's arm. Behind them, on the hill, many battle hardened wizards were bent over and losing the contents of their stomach.

Ulquiorra dropped the lifeless sack of flesh that was once a powerful wizard and wiped his arm on the man's robes. He then walked back to Grimmjow as if he hadn't just brutally slaughtered someone and gave him a tight hug. Ulquiorra clung onto his mate with fierce possessiveness and Grimmjow hugged him back. Right at that moment, a Senkaimon opened in a space not occupied by dead bodies with a bottle with a paper inside flying out of it. The paper was a note from Captain Urahara, who had figured out how to bring them home. Nnoitra kissed the bottle with a look of absolute glee before hauling Szayel over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and jumping into the Senkaimon. Harribel followed the pair at a more sedate pace and soon disappeared. Grimmjow looked at Ulquiorra who was staring back at the castle.

"What are you doing? It's time to go home." Grimmjow said.

"I am merely trying to burn the image into my memory for future reference. Who knows when this might happen again?" Ulquiorra replied.

"Ya, well, I'm never doing this again."

"I completely agree, though I would like to see this castle in times of true peace. Well, not all things wanted can be achieved. We should go home before the trash on the hill start attacking us."

"This was a nice vacation, though I have to admit, I miss the little Shinigami brats."

"Agreed. Shall we go?"

"Yeah"

With that, Grimmjow picked up Ulquiorra in a bridal carry and ran through the Senkaimon before it closed. As the blinding light dissipated, the Espada were standing in Urahara's store in their own world. Nnoitra was passionately ravaging Szayel's mouth and Harribel was using Urahara's phone to check on her fraccion. Grimmjow whooped with glee and engulfed Ulquiorra in a thorough, open-mouthed kiss. They were happy and home after their adventure, boring as it was. At least they got a good fight out of those wizards.

* * *

**And that's it. The longest fanfiction I have ever even thought of is finished. Hope you enjoyed it. If so, slam that favorite button and let me know what you think in the reviews. Leave suggestions for future fanfics in my personal message box. Remember, flames will not be tolerated and will be used to fuel Yamamoto's zanpakuto. See y'all next time. HunterTala out.**


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